Guangdong tops provinces as 6.11 million couples register marriages nationwide in 2024

A total of 6.11 million couples registered marriages nationwide in 2024, including 9.17 million first-time marriages and 3.04 million remarried individuals, according to the China Statistical Yearbook 2025, China Women's News reported Monday.

Statistics showed that South China's Guangdong Province recorded the highest number of marriages nationwide, with 511,900 couples tying the knot in 2024, the only province to exceed half a million and rank first for a third consecutive year. The province registered 831,900 first-time marriages and 191,900 remarriages last year, according to the report.

Since surpassing Central China's Henan Province in 2007 to become China's most populous province, Guangdong has remained its position as the nation's top province in terms of permanent resident population for 18 years in a row. The province has attracted large inflows of young migrants from across the country, many of whom are of marriageable age. It has also seen strong net inflows of college graduates from regions including Central and Southwest China, contributing to its higher volume of marriage registrations, said the report.

The province of Henan ranked second with 471,300 marriage registrations in 2024. Southwest China's Sichuan, East China's Jiangsu and East China's Shandong each reported more than 350,000 marriage registrations, ranking third to fifth. The remaining top 10 provinces each registered between 200,000 and 300,000 couples last year, according to the report.