China’s divorce rate on the rise for the 13th year in a row

Though there are insanely dedicated couples out there, like this Shanxi husband who has taken care of his paralyzed wife for almost 60 years, it looks like marriages in China as a whole aren’t doing so well.
China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has revealed that more than 3.8 million couples filed for divorce last year, marking the 13th consecutive year that Chinese divorce rates have increased, Sohu reports. Now, that 3.8 million doesn’t even include the number of divorce cases that the backlogged Shanghai government just hasn’t been able to get to yet — imagine what the number will be when the system is streamlined… on second thought, don’t imagine that.

The annual number of divorces per 1,000 population has increased by 5.6% from last year to 2.8. That’s compared with a 0.9 rate in 2002.
Looks like all these incidences of mistresses getting beat up and dramatic divorce fights aren’t happening without a reason.

Zhuo Zhenwu, director of the School of Society and Population at Renmin University, speculated that the stigma that comes with getting a divorce is disappearing, while in the past people were scared of damaging their families’ reputations, that has apparently become less of a concern.
Meanwhile, Beijing attributes the ever-increasing divorce rate to people wearing shorts to apply for their marriage licenses and social media.
Any other theories on what could be causing this?
By Sarah Lin