Report says more single people are making wills

An increasing number of single people, especially women, are turning to will services to better manage their properties and avoid them being inherited by people that they do not favor, according to a report released by the China Will Registration Center in late March.

Nearly 2,100 unmarried people had made will registrations at the center between 2017 and 2023, with the number rising significantly each year. Notably, 70 percent of them were women.

Nearly half of such will registrants have received a university education, and more than half hold managerial roles in the workplace or are professional and technical personnel, according to the 2023 annual report of the center.

Regarding their main reason for making a will, nearly 45 percent of the unmarried people said it was to take care of their parents, and nearly 30 percent said it was to prevent the whereabouts of their property from ultimately going unaccounted for, said the report.

Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed that the number of marriage registrations had shown a declining trend over the past decade, decreasing from 13.47 million in 2013 to 7.68 million in 2023. Such a decrease also seemed prevalent in many other parts of the world as well.

Chen Kai, project director of the China Will Registration Center, said the reasons behind the high proportion of women among unmarried individuals making wills included the continuous improvement of women's social status and their increasing sense of independence.

"Such women pay more attention to the protection and inheritance of their property, and they understand how to ensure that their property is properly handled and distributed by making a will," said Chen.

"For the highly educated and those in corporate executive roles, they may have more assets and a stronger sense of both laws and risks," he said.

The report also showed that middle-aged and young people are becoming increasingly open-minded to making wills. The average age of will registrants decreased from 77.43 in 2018 to 67.82 in 2023.

The number of people aged below 30 making will registrations grew from 61 in 2017 to 1,030 in 2023. The number of individuals aged between 30 and 39 who were will registrants grew from 73 in 2017 to 1,623 in 2023.

"The trend that will registrants are getting younger shows that the young generation is increasingly aware of protecting personal property and making plans in advance. Also, wills are no longer something of a taboo anymore, although this issue used to be usually related to death or something inauspicious in traditional Chinese culture," said Liu Guiming, honorary director of China Will Registration Center.