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Marriage Squeeze, Never-Married Proportion, and Mean Age at First Marriage in China

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  • Quanbao Jiang
  • Marcus Feldman
  • Shuzhuo Li

Abstract

China’s sex ratio imbalance and the surplus of males have received a great deal of attention, but measures of the extent of the marriage squeeze do not take into account the marital status of population. In this paper, we devise an index of the marriage squeeze for the never-married population and use it to project the male marriage squeeze from 2000 to 2060. From the predicted population and nuptiality tables, we estimate trends in the proportion of men that never marry by age 50 and the mean age at first marriage. We find that the marriage squeeze is much more intense if only the never-married population is considered, rather than including all people without distinguishing their marital status. As the lifelong never-married proportion increases, mean age at first marriage rises first and then declines. Copyright The Author(s) 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Quanbao Jiang & Marcus Feldman & Shuzhuo Li, 2014. "Marriage Squeeze, Never-Married Proportion, and Mean Age at First Marriage in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 189-204, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:33:y:2014:i:2:p:189-204
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-013-9283-8
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    6. Quanbao Jiang & Shuzhuo Li & Marcus Feldman, 2011. "Demographic Consequences of Gender Discrimination in China: Simulation Analysis of Policy Options," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(4), pages 619-638, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Quanbao Jiang & Xiaomin Li & Shuzhuo Li & Marcus W. Feldman, 2016. "China’s Marriage Squeeze: A Decomposition into Age and Sex Structure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 793-807, June.
    2. Qianqian Shang & Quanbao Jiang & Yongkun Yin, 2022. "How Does Children's Sex Affect Parental Sex Preference: Preference Adaptation and Learning," Working Papers wp2022_2202, CEMFI.
    3. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2016. "Love, Life, and “Leftover Ladies” in Urban China," MPRA Paper 70494, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Ong, David & Yang, Yu (Alan) & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "Hard to get: The scarcity of women and the competition for high-income men in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
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    6. Anukriti, S & Dasgupta, Shatanjaya, 2017. "Marriage Markets in Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 10556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Zhen Zhang & Qiang Li, 2020. "Population aging caused by a rise in the sex ratio at birth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(32), pages 969-992.
    8. Sasa Wang & Xueyan Yang & Lisa Eklund, 2022. "Discrimination and Quality of Life Among Marriage-Squeezed Men in Rural China: Unexpected Functions of Structural and Functional Social Support," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 885-905, February.
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