This story, repeated on many news sites, is titled "China divorce rate 8.5% in 2010" but that's probably not the actual rate, because what the text of the story says is that the number of people who "ended their marriage" -- which it equates with divorces plus judicial separations -- is UP 8.5% over the 2009 rate. The actual divorce rate, though, is reportedly up 11.5 percent over 2009.
"According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 2.68 million couples ended their marriage during 2010, up 8.5 percent over 2009. This included 2.01 million couples who filed for divorce, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2009, and 668,000 couples who separated via court sanction. Over 5,000 couples divorce each day in China. The number of divorces has been steadily rising in the past five years. However, marriages also increased in 2010, reaching 12.4 million, up two percent in 2009."
Another take on it, via Phoenix lawyer Wendy Raquel Hernandez:
According to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, there were approximately 465,357 divorces during the first quarter of 2011 (January through March). This constitutes a 17 percent increase from the first quarter of 2010.
Experts point to several reasons for this increase in the number of divorces:
- The decision by government officials in 2001 to allow couples to separate without securing approval from their employer beforehand
- The growing wealth in various sectors of the population
- The country's increasing transformation to consumer-driven social norms which puts pressure on husbands to earn/provide more
Another report says:
According to statistics as of May 2011, southwest China's Sichuan Province ranks the highest in the divorced population with 38,228 divorced couples, and Shandong ranks second with 29,367 couples ending their marriages,.
According to China Marriage and Family Consulting Research Center, a social group affiliated with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the increased divorced population in Sichuan and Shandong is mainly due to the migration of workers, who spread out in other places in China.
The couples have to face the pressure of separation and their feelings are often neglected, leading to a growing number of people having affairs, said Shu Xin, the center's director.
More developed regions have seen a fairly low increase in the divorce rate. According to first-quarter statistics for Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing, the divorce population increased by 15.4 percent, 8.5 percent and 8.2 percent respectively compared to the same period in 2010.
"The high increase in divorce is a direct result of economic growth," Shu said.