Number of single Chinese men to soar to 30 million by 2050

The number of single men of marriageable age in China will reach 30 million in 30 years, the result of a widening gender ratio at birth in the last decades, experts said Monday.

"In the past 30 years, the unbalanced sex ratio at birth has continued to widen," Zhai Zhenwu, a sociologist at the Renmin University of China, was quoted as saying by the People's Daily.

Wang Guangzhou, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the paper that the number of unmarried Chinese men between 35 and 59 years old was estimated to reach 15 million in 2020 and 30 million in 2050.

The national gender ratio between males and females at birth peaked at 121.2 males to 100 females in China since 2000, while the standard ratio set by the UN is between 103 and 107 males for every 100 females. The figure reached as high as 130 males in some provinces, the report said.

Zhai said that the continued imbalance was caused by the development of ultrasonic technology in the 1980's, which added to the traditional family preferences for a son.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on January 20 shows that in the Chinese mainland, the male population reached more than 708 million at the end of 2016, while the number of females was more than 675 million.

But while single Chinese men are worrying about finding a partner, more Chinese women are choosing to stay single, China Central Television (CCTV) reported in November 2016.

China's sixth national population census in 2010 revealed that unmarried Chinese women above 30 years old and above accounted for 2.47 percent of the female population - almost three times higher than the figure reported in the 2000 census, CCTV reported.