Number of Births Halved in 10 Years... Half of Korean Men and One in Three Women Are 'Unmarried'

Number of Marriages Decreases, Average Age at First Marriage Increases
Women’s Economic Activity Rises but Career Interruptions Persist

Among Koreans aged 25 to 49, half of the men and one in three women have never been married.

[Photo by Pixabay]

According to data released by Statistics Korea on the 11th to mark 'Population Day' titled 'Low Birthrate and Changes in Our Society,' as of 2020, 52.9% of men and 67.1% of women aged 25 to 49 had marriage experience. Compared to 2010, these figures decreased by 11.8% and 10.3%, respectively.

The number of marriages also declined from 295,000 in 1970 to 192,000, a decrease of 103,000. The average age at first marriage was 33.7 years for men and 31.3 years for women, increasing by 1.6 years and 1.9 years respectively compared to ten years ago.

While the world population is expected to surpass 10 billion by 2058, the Korean population has been on a declining trend since peaking in 2020. Statistics Korea projects that the Korean population will enter the 40 million range by 2041 and decrease to around 38 million by 2070.

The number of births in 2022 was 249,000, a decrease of 236,000 compared to 485,000 in 2012. The total fertility rate, an indicator representing the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, was 0.78 in 2022, down 0.52 from 2012.

[Photo by Pixabay]

As of 2022, the overall economic activity participation rate was 63.9%, with men at 73.5% and women at 54.6%. The female economic activity participation rate has steadily increased from 48.8% in 2000 and was higher than the OECD member countries' average of 53.2%. However, among married women aged 15 to 54, 1,397,000 were classified as career-interrupted, indicating that many women still leave their jobs due to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare.

The proportion of people who believe that household chores should be shared equally was 64.7% in 2022, up 19.4% from 2012. However, the percentage of respondents who said that household chores are actually shared equally was 21.3% for husbands and 20.5% for wives, showing a gap from the view that chores should be shared fairly.

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