Surveys suggest China's single population will grow next year

In 2018, China's single population reached 240 million, with more than 77 million adults living alone, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In July, the ministry released data showing that the number of adults who live alone is expected to rise to 92 million by next year.

The country's single population grew from 170 million in 2013 to 240 million in 2018, while marriage registrations have declined every year since 2014. The divorce rate has climbed for 16 consecutive years, the ministry said.

According to a 2019 report by Aurora Mobile, a big data platform, which analysed singles ages 18 to 34, the number of people from the "post-90s generation" living alone has overtaken their post-80s peers and the group now accounts for the majority of the country's single population.

Early last year, as the first batch of the post-90s generation turned 30, dating app Tantan released a report on the group based on surveys of 3,231 respondents.

The report showed that more than 70 percent of 30-year-old singles had been unattached for two years or longer, with 72 percent attributing the difficulty of finding a partner to their limited social networks.

It also showed that 81.9 percent of respondents were often urged to marry by older family members.

In August, Tantan released another report that focused on young people who live alone.

The company sent questionnaires to customers ages 18 to 35. According to the results, 49.64 percent of respondents lived alone, with 15.46 percent having done so for more than five years.

The survey also showed that 67.8 percent of respondents wanted to say goodbye to their solitary status.