China's marriage rate may have plunged to a record low last year, but at least some of the country's singles are saying yes – albeit to a different type of arrangement.
A small but growing number of young people are "marrying their best friends", said the South China Morning Post. The so-called "friendship marriage" trend involves two people becoming legal spouses, often living together in a relationship based on "shared values and interests" – but without ties of romantic love or sex.
Faced with a "plummeting birth rate and an ageing population", the Chinese government is overtly encouraging its record number of single people to get married, said The Associated Press. In a speech in 2023, President Xi Jinping called for a "new type of marriage and childbearing culture". So for many singles wanting to "escape family pressure and societal prejudice", said the Post, a friendship marriage helps. "Women my age are all getting married and having kids," 33-year-old Chloe told the publication. "A friendship marriage helps avoid gossip."
Sexless marriages are also on the rise in Japan and are "among the reasons cited for its low birth rate", said The Times. But for a growing number of people, that sexlessness is "an integral part of a marital union". It appeals to those who "want the benefits of marriage" – legal and financial, or perhaps to raise a child – without intimacy.
It is a phenomenon that is not isolated to Asia. In the US, many platonic "couples" aren't "open about their situation", but anecdotal evidence from online message boards suggests it could be "a larger portion of the marriage population than numbers portray", said The New York Times in 2021. It "probably happens a lot", said Nick Bognar, a marriage therapist. | 
