Few approve of unmarried couples living together

Very few people in Shanghai approve of unmarried couples living together, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the Family Value Research Center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, polled 1,200 residents between the ages of 20 and 65 in the largest Chinese city by population.

Only 1 percent of the people polled said they would like to live with their partners before marriage. Even among people aged 35 or below, the figure is only 2.4 percent.

Meanwhile, about 82 percent of respondents said they wanted a lifelong marriage.

Having a double income family with no children was only popular among a few people, according to the survey.

Only 3 percent of the people aged 35 or younger said they didn’t want to have a child.

The survey showed that traditional family values in the country are still cherished, said Xu Anqi, a researcher from the center who led the survey.