China’s Marriage Market and Upcoming Challenges for Elderly Men
Fertility decline has fueled a sharp increase in the proportion of 'missing girls' in China, so an increasing share of males will fail to marry, and will face old age without the support normally provided by wives and children. This paper...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20100629085520 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3837 |
| Summary: | Fertility decline has fueled a sharp
increase in the proportion of 'missing girls' in
China, so an increasing share of males will fail to marry,
and will face old age without the support normally provided
by wives and children. This paper shows that historically,
China has had nearly-universal marriage for women and a very
competitive market for men. Lower-educated men experience
higher rates of bachelorhood while women favor men with
better prospects, migrating if needed from poorer to
wealthier areas. The authors examine the anticipated effects
of this combination of bride shortage and hypergamy, for
different regions of China. Their projections indicate that
unmarried males will likely be concentrated in poorer
provinces with low fiscal ability to provide social
protection to their citizens. Such geographic concentration
of unmarried males could be socially disruptive, and the
paper s findings suggest a need to expand the coverage of
social protection programs financed substantially by the
central government. |
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