3 out of 10 Agree with Being Single... Half of People in Their 20s Support It

34% Agree with Single and Unmarried, 26% with Unmarried Cohabitation, 28.3% with Childlessness
Average Household Size is 2.3...Couple + Children Ratio Plummets
Single-Person Household Ratio Rises from 21.3% to 30.4% in 5 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] More than three out of ten Koreans agree with being single without marriage. The proportion of those who agree with cohabitation without marriage or having no children has also increased significantly. In particular, half of people in their 20s responded that they agree with being single, cohabiting without marriage, and having no children.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the results of the '2020 Family Status Survey' conducted in September last year on 10,997 households nationwide. The survey on values regarding family lifestyles showed that 34.0% agreed with being single without marriage, and 26.0% agreed with cohabitation without marriage. These figures increased by 1.6 percentage points and 4.9 percentage points respectively compared to the previous survey (2015). The proportion of those who agreed with having no children rose from 21.3% five years ago to 28.3%, and agreement with childbirth without marriage increased from 9.5% to 15.4%.

Changes in values toward being single without marriage are also reflected in actual family composition. According to the Family Status Survey, the average household size was 2.3 persons, and the proportion of single-person households increased significantly from 21.3% in the previous survey (2015) to 30.4%. The proportion of households consisting of a couple and unmarried children decreased by 13.5 percentage points to 31.7% compared to the previous survey (44.2%).

Changes in family values were particularly prominent among people in their 20s. About half of those in their 20s agreed with being single without marriage (53%), cohabiting without marriage (46.6%), and having no children (52.5%). Compared to five years ago, these figures increased by 16 percentage points, 21.3 percentage points, and 23.4 percentage points respectively. The proportion agreeing with childbirth without marriage was 23.0%, up 14.6 percentage points from the previous survey. Teenagers (ages 12-19) also showed high agreement rates with being single without marriage (47.7%), cohabiting without marriage (37.4%), and having no children (47.5%).

The proportion of people who have a spouse but do not register their marriage was 2.8%. Among them, 29.7% said they have no plans to register their marriage. Especially, the proportion of those with no plans to register was higher among people in their 60s (59.5%) and those aged 70 and above (75%). This is interpreted as largely due to the increased considerations in late-life remarriage, such as property distribution and relationships with children. The reasons for cohabitation without marriage were mainly ▲economic reasons (31.0%) and ▲not wanting to be bound by marriage systems or norms (18.9%).

Among policies supporting various family forms, the most frequently cited need was 'support for single-parent families (70.7%)'. This was followed by support for father/mother families (61.3%), support for single-person households (49.1%), and elimination of discrimination against non-legal marriages (common-law marriages, cohabitation without marriage) (35.7%).

An official from the Korea Women's Development Institute, which conducted the survey, explained, "Although the degree of agreement with policies to eliminate discrimination against being single or cohabiting without marriage is lower compared to other policies, the agreement rate is higher among younger age groups than older ones. We believe that the desire for changes in family diversity, especially among younger generations recently, needs to be reflected in policies."

The proportion agreeing that family ceremonies such as weddings and funerals should be conducted centered on immediate family or the parties involved has increased. 60.3% agreed that weddings should be family-centered, and 58.9% agreed that funerals should be family-centered. About half of those aged 70 and above also agreed. However, while more than half of people in their 20s to 40s agreed with not holding ancestral rites and improving patriarchal and hierarchical family titles, only about 27% of those aged 70 and above agreed, showing a clear generational difference in perception.

Household chores among couples tend to be shared equally more among younger generations. Nevertheless, women mostly take on childcare responsibilities. In the survey covering all age groups, 70.5% reported that women mainly handle household chores such as grocery shopping, meal preparation, and cleaning, and 70.5% and 57.9% said women mainly take care of child-rearing and education respectively. Among those aged 29 and under, 56.4% and 49.2% responded that couples share these tasks equally. However, even among couples aged 29 and under, women were reported to be responsible for most childcare-related tasks such as daily care of children under 12 (77%) and managing children's learning (74.9%).

Regarding childcare, 82.3% of infants and toddlers use childcare institutions (61.0% daycare centers, 35.6% kindergartens). For those not using institutions, the primary caregiver was the mother (87.4%) and grandparents (9.1%). Half of the respondents said that the most needed time for childcare services for both infants/toddlers and elementary school students is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. For elementary school students, demand for childcare services was also high between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Lee Jeongshim, Director of the Youth and Family Policy Office at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "Although men's participation in household chores is increasing overall, women still perform a high proportion of childcare, so it is necessary to expand support for childcare in various ways. However, since the stereotype that women are better at child-rearing remains, we will work to strengthen gender-equal policies not only in childcare but also in household chores and parenting to enable gender-equal care."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.