New marriages refer to the number of couples who completed marriage registration during a given year. On this website, the series is shown in thousands and reflects annual marriage registrations across China's provinces.

Because the source data is published as counts of registered marriages, this measure is best read as a direct volume indicator rather than a rate. It shows where marriage registration activity is larger or smaller in absolute terms and how that changes over time.

Comparing regional trends helps reveal where marriage registrations have expanded, slowed, or declined more sharply. National and provincial patterns can differ substantially, so viewing the series over time makes those shifts easier to see.