Want to file for divorce in China You might need a booking agent

BEIJING – Chinese medical office worker Qin Meng has found a lucrative side hustle: She wakes up before midnight, fills in her clients’ divorce certificate applications on a government website, then hits the confirm button exactly at the top of the hour.

Miss it by seconds and the daily slots are “gone in the blink of an eye,” says the 30-year-old, who charges 400 yuan (S$70) for her service, bringing relief to couples who have sometimes spent six months trying for a slot.

Demographers say the emergence of impromptu agents like Ms Qin, who advertise on Chinese social media, is another sign of how the slowing economy is piling financial stress on married couples and contributing to the breakdown of relationships.

The 2024 divorce rate has yet to be announced by the National Bureau of Statistics, but Dr Yi Fuxian, a Chinese demographer and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, expects it to hit 2.6 per 1,000 people, against a low of 2.0 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This compares with the most recent rates of 1.5 in Japan and 1.8 in South Korea.

“Poverty destroys marriage,” said Dr Yi, warning divorce numbers were inversely correlated with birth rates and could worsen the country’s demographic crisis.

“China’s economic downturn in recent years and the rising youth unemployment rate have reduced the economic capacity of families, exacerbated family conflicts and thereby increased the divorce rate.”

While the economy is expanding at about 5 per cent a year, Chinese households have been saving more because of concerns about job security and the impact of a prolonged property crisis.

Much of the economic growth has relied on export competitiveness, but Chinese firms, hit by US tariffs, have cut jobs or lowered pay to reduce costs while millions of fresh university graduates are struggling