Divorce is on the rise in China. For some, that means big business

Beijing/Hong Kong CNN —

As a wedding photographer, Tan Mengmeng’s livelihood depends heavily on people getting married, capturing the joy and happiness of a couple’s love.

But China’s marriage rate has been steadily declining and the 28-year-old, who runs a photography studio in central Henan province, has felt the urge to expand her stream of revenue to capitalize off a growing trend: divorce.

In addition to lovers exchanging vows, she now takes photos of couples who want to commemorate, and in many cases celebrate, the end of their marriage.

Official figures show that marriage rates in China are plummeting, declining annually from around 13 million in 2013 to below 7 million in 2022, the lowest since records began in 1985, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The country saw a slight bump last year, up towards 8 million, but authorities remain concerned about the trend.

Meanwhile, the number of divorces has surged, hitting a record high of 4.7 million in 2019, more than four times higher than two decades ago, according to the data.

The government has tried to reverse the rise, imposing a new law in 2021 requiring couples to go through a 30-day “cooling off” period before splitting. It led to a temporary decline, but the number of divorces has since jumped again, up 25% percent in 2023 from the year prior, data showed.

The two shifts have contributed to a deepening demographic crisis facing the world’s second-biggest economy, exacerbated by a slowing economy, a rapidly aging population and the fact that fewer women are having children after the decades-long one-child policy.

Tan says she pivoted her photography services to divorcees after seeing the long queues outside government offices