It already hurts enough to mention bachelors on Qixi, China's Valentine's Day, yet there's an even more heart-wrenching reality to it: they might be the culprit to China's economic slowdown.
Although it is generally believed that single men and women are more generous spenders than their married counterparts, some analysts tend to believe that they contribute less to the overall economy growth.
Zhang Ning, an expert from China's top think tank, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), claimed that even if the growing number of urban singles is transforming China's overall consumption mode, it nevertheless has a negative impact on the country's economy in the long run.
For decades, China is facing a growing gender imbalance issue with the number of its bachelors exceeding the entire population of UK and Russia combined. It now has a nearly 200 million unmarried population, with about 20 million aged between 20 to 39 years old, official statistic says.
It also indicated that higher divorce rates and skyrocketing housing prices are also to blame for China's dwindling married population. Meanwhile, the trend opened up for many business opportunities to cash in on the singles, introducing special offers for them in the cinema, restaurants, travel agencies and florists.
There are also statistics showing that singles contribute greatly in sectors such as food delivery, which saw 44% growth last year and 65% of total orders were from single users.
The CASS expert, however, argued that such buying power can hardly turn into positive economic growth on a state level. He said 'singles economy' focus more on self-indulgence rather than future and family investment, which tends to contribute more to the overall economy.
In Japan, the low marriage rate has started to have a negative impact on the country's economy.
Compared with the movie vouchers and popcorns single people spend on themselves, it is understandable for young parents to invest more money on their children and family raising business, which is, a whole lot more money.
