Divorce in Cross-National Marriages: Who's Deceiving Whom?

An article in Sunday’s Global Times suggested that divorce rates were increasing in cross-national marriages in China due to “cultural differences, conflicts on how to raise their children, extramarital affairs and long-term separation caused by work or visa problems.” The article has prompted debate within Beijing’s international community, but do the facts support the headline?

The article quotes (but does not link to) a piece on cankaoxiaoxi.com which states that cross-national marriages are increasing by 1,000 a year in Beijing; but neither article gives an absolute figure, so we’re not told how many actual marriages this represents. We are told, though, how many divorces take place in these marriages: “173 cases in 2013, 203 cases in 2014 and 254 cases in 2015.”

If we assume that there were 1,000 cross-national marriages in 2013, 2,000 in 2014, and 3,000 in 2015, then the divorce rate has actually more than halved, from 17.3 percent to 8.5 percent. Since it’s certain we didn’t start from zero cross-national marriages in 2012, then the decline is less dramatic, but the actual rate is even lower.

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This article originally appeared on our sister account beijingkids.

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