China’s ghost cities make it extremely difficult for young Chinese to buy a home and form a family. China has two types of cities -- conventional cities crowded with apartment buildings occupied by people; and unconventional cities, crowded with buildings with vacant apartments. That’s why they are called “ghost cities.” They are usually owned by land developers and speculators who count on selling them one day at sky prices. That could explain why China’s marriage rates have plummeted close to 30% in the last five years. To be fair, the government has been trying to address the issue by building public housing, but this policy ends up creating more ghost cities.

Source: Forbes September 16, 2018 23:48 UTC