China: Marriage, family court cases down 17 percent y-o-y after rise in mediation efforts

There has been a drop of 17.24 percent in marriage and family cases concluded in the first quarter of 2024, amid increased pre-litigation mediation efforts, the Supreme People’s Court said on Monday.

In the first quarter of 2024, 416,000 marriage and family cases were adjudicated, down 17.24 percent year-on-year. People’s Courts continued to intensify pre-litigation mediation in marital and family disputes, as well as carrying out investigations, mediation and psychological counseling ahead of family trials.

People’s Courts continued to make efforts in guiding the resolution of property service contract disputes, strengthening the “government and court linkage,” and jointly holding special meetings with housing and construction departments on housing-related disputes, in order to promote the standardization of real estate enterprises and reduce the occurrence of disputes.

According to recent data from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, there were 7.68 million couples who registered their marriages in 2023, marking an increase of 845,000 couples or 12.4 percent compared to the previous year.

This represents the first upturn in recent years, as the number of marriages across the country had been steadily declining since reaching a peak of 13.469 million couples in 2013. Additionally, the number of divorce registrations decreased by 286,000 to 2.88 million, marking a 9.9 percent decline from the 2022 figures.

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