The briefing
China recorded 4.65 million marriage registrations in the first nine months of the year, down 9.8% or roughly 504,000 couples from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The decline reverses a brief rebound and deepens concerns over the country’s birth-rate slump.
Original headline
China marriage registrations hit 18-year low, worsening birth rate crisis: report