Many couples aged under 30 - largely made up of "only children" born after 1980, - are opting to sever the marriage knot, instead of reconciling their relationships

That is the reality for many young Shanghai couples in ailing marriages, facing the prospect of working hard to get through prickly relationship problems or filing for divorce.

And many, it seems, are calling it quits.

According to official statistics, many couples aged under 30 - largely made up of "only children" born after 1980, - are opting toseverthe marriage knot, instead of reconciling their relationships.

The latest figures show that from January to May this year, 2,100 young Shanghai couples got divorced, 10 percent up on 2006.

Last year, an average of 102 couples of all ages got divorced every day.

Couples born in the 1980s - and under 30 - are among the most likely to get divorced, with 5,876 Shanghai couples last year saying, 'I don't any more'.

Shu Xin, the founder of a divorce services company said people born after 1980 were more inclined to go their separate ways than other age groups, and more of them needed marriage counseling.

"They are more self-centered compared with previous generations," Shu said.

"So when they encounter problems in their marriage, many of them will avoid the problem by rushing into a divorce."

Zhang Xiong, an associate professor at East China University of Science and Technology, said young couples "imprudently reached the divorce decision", a contributing factor to the increasing year-on-year divorce rate.