Will registrants get younger as COVID-19 bites

People registering wills in China are getting younger under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 200 will registrants between 2020 and 2021 were born after 2000, according to a white paper released by the China Will Registration Center in Shanghai on Monday.

By the end of last year, the center had registered about 220,000 wills over the past nine years since its establishment and the average age of registrants dropped to 68.59 years from 77.43 years at the beginning.

The number of will registrants has continued to increase in recent years, growing 7.7 percent last year from a year earlier, and 20.8 percent from 2019.

Between 2020 and 2021, 223 people born after 2000 registered wills, and bank deposits and virtual property were mainly involved, according to the center.

The majority of them were university students aged between 18 and 20 years, with bank deposits their main property.

There has been an increase in the number of will registrants born in the 1990s.

Last year, 1,204 people who registered wills fell into this age group, surging 80 percent from a year earlier.

In total, 71.64 percent of wills registered last year by people born in the 1990s pertained to property or homes, mostly from their parents.

Young registrants' wills were related more to virtual property such as Alipay, WeChat, QQ and games account, the center revealed.

The COVID-19 pandemic is partly the reason behind the younger trend, it said.

"Our survey found that more than half of young will registrants are worried about what will come first: tomorrow or the unexpected. Thus they don't want to have any regrets by not doing anything before death," Chen Kai, director of the center's management committee, suggested.

Chen cited an example.

Before the Spring Festival last year, the center staff received a special call from a 16-year-old.

"I want to register a will and leave all my deposits to my mom," the teen said. "If I die suddenly, I hope it will give her some comfort and support."

Minors aged at least 16 years and making a living with their own income are eligible to make wills based on Chinese law.

The teen works as a nurse and has witnessed several COVID-19 patients pass away during the most serious period of the pandemic.

"Seeing all of this, I don't know what will happen in the next second," said the minor, who lives with his mother. "She is my everything."

"The younger trend reflects the change in people's attitude toward life and death, which does not mean they are no longer worried and anxious about death, but now have a positive view on their past experience and future life," Chen explained.

In total, 982 wills made last year come from people born in the 1980s, compared with 73 in 2017.

"The surge is closely related to the COVID-19 outbreak as people born in the 1980s are the backbone of their families," Chen noted.

More than 97 percent of the wills are based on property or housing, and 13 percent on shares, stocks and funds, higher than other age groups.

There is strong demand for will registration among divorcees, according to the center.

The proportion of divorced people registering wills rose to 11.82 percent from 7.53 percent over the past five years.

A Shanghai woman surnamed Ding, 42, registered to leave her house to her son.

"To prevent financial risk resulting from probable re-marriage, I sought direct inheritance through will registration," she pointed out.

Some couples even registered wills during the 30-day grace period for divorce to prevent loss, the center said.

Since China's Civil Code came into force, couples seeking a divorce need to submit a divorce registration application at marriage registration centers and wait 30 days.