(Yicai Global) July 13 -- People from rural areas of China have narrowed the gap with their urban counterparts by getting married progressively later over the past decade, the latest population data showed.

The average age for first marriages in rural areas rose 4.4 years to 28.4 in 2020 from 2010, according to the 2020 population census yearbook recently published by the National Bureau of Statistics. In urban areas, the average was 28.8, up by almost three years, and cross China it was 28.7, compared with 24.9 a decade earlier.

The trend to get hitched later in life is stronger in the countryside than it is in the cities, Prof. Dong Yuzheng, director of the Guangdong Academy of Population Development, told Yicai Global.

Most young people from rural areas, in their prime reproductive years, head to the cities for work, which changes their thinking on marriage, childbearing and parenting, Dong said, adding that work-related stress and other social factors lead to them postponing getting married.

There are other obstacles. China's rural population is becoming more and more male, as there were around 123 men aged 20 to 24 for every 100 women in the countryside in 2020. For the age 25 to 29 age group, there were almost 121 men for each 100 women.

The imbalance points to the greater mobility of young women. A great number move from rural areas to the cities and end up starting families there.

Guizhou’s statistics bureau said last year that young women are leaving small counties in the mountainous province and are more likely to become part of the “floating population.” Its figures showed that for every 100 migrant women workers aged 20 to 24 and 25 to 29 there were fewer than 90 men.

Editors: Emmi Laine, Liao Shumin, Xiao Yi