More couples divorce over lost lust for one another

Some 38,850 couples agreed to end their marriages last year, marking the highest number of divorces yet to be counted in the city, up roughly 4 percent from the previous year, the local civil affairs bureau said Sunday.

The majority of couples, or 68 percent of them, said they decided to split after losing affection for one another, while the second highest reason was due to couples' clashing personalities, a problem cited by 25 percent of those that divorced, according to a report by the bureau released Friday. The report only includes figures concerning couples, who consented to divorce without seeking help from the courts.

"Some couples also broke it off because one of the spouses cheated, while some were unhappy with their financial situations," Zhou Jixiang, head of the marriage management department for the city's civil affairs bureau, told the Global Times Sunday.

He added that younger couples, who marry closer to the city's average age for marriage at 28, tend to be more susceptible to divorce these days, with people in their 30s accounting for the highest bracket of divorcees - holding 32 percent of the demographic.

After the honeymoon period passes, spouses feel far less inclined to hide faults or weaknesses, which can easily lead to serious marital conflicts, said Xu Anqi, a researcher who specializes in marital studies, from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"If they don't deal with these problems, a marriage can fall apart quickly, and couples without a child are far more likely to resort to divorce rather than actually work on fixing their relationship," she told the Global Times Sunday.

Xu added that simpler procedures resulting from a nationwide relaxing on marital laws in 2003 - when the city's divorce rate jumped by 30 percent to 19, 704 couples from the previous year - can further be attributed to the rising trend.

"Since 2003, when the new law on divorce came into effect, people have been able to apply for divorce without acknowledgement from their employers," she told the Global Times Sunday. "This has made divorce more of a personal issue and less of a hassle in many ways, which has failed to prevent a majority of couples to think twice before divorcing."