Shanghai posted a drop in the number of divorces to 12.47 percent last year with 52,871, which is the first dip in five years.
Most of the divorces are considered "fake," being sought by couples who wish to sidestep stringent housing policies, such as paying huge taxes on their second homes.
A total of 60,825 couples with at least one Shanghai partner divorced in 2013, which was a 37.4-percent jump from 2012. It was the largest jump in recent years.
Chen Zhanbiao, director of the marriage registration division of the bureau, said that the 52,871 divorces was still high. He noted that the divorce rate was below 1 percent before 2002, and rose to above 2 percent in 2010. In 2013, it reached 2.6 percent.
People between 30 and 40 years old accounted for the biggest proportion of divorcees, totaling 40,884. There were 19,033 people below 30 years seeking divorce, the report said.
A good number of divorces came from the post-1980 generation, which experts claim are self-centered and less tolerant in a marriage due to the pampering received from parents as a result of China's one-child policy.
In Nov. 2011, a review of 700 divorce cases by Shanghai's Huangpu District People's Court involving one or both spouses born in or after the 1980s found that the average length of marriage lasted a mere 45 months. The study also found that one-fifth of these marriages did not last a year.
Chen also noted that, unlike before, marrying a foreigner is no longer considered a guarantee of wealth, immigration benefits and a happy marriage.