40% of Unmarried Youth Choose 'No Marriage and No Childbirth'; Higher Job Satisfaction Leads to Positive Attitudes

2030 Youth: 43% Unmarried, 47% Childless
Significant Gender Gap
Higher Job Satisfaction Linked to Positive Views on Marriage and Childbirth

A survey revealed that 4 out of 10 unmarried young adults aged 20 to 39 in Korea have no intention of getting married. Nearly half of the respondents also said they do not plan to have children. Notably, the intention to remain single and childless was higher among women than men, highlighting a significant gender perception gap.

The Korea Future Population Research Institute, a private demographic research organization, announced these findings on the 7th. The institute commissioned the professional research firm Embrain to conduct the survey. Embrain carried out a quantitative survey from April 25 to 28 and June 9 to 14 this year, targeting 2,300 men and women aged 15 to 59 nationwide.

[Photo by Pixabay]

The survey results confirmed that 4 out of 10 unmarried young adults aged 20 to 39 have no intention of getting married. Among them, 36.4% of unmarried men and 50.2% of unmarried women expressed a preference for remaining single, showing a 13.8% difference by gender. Women in their 30s showed particularly high intentions to remain unmarried.

By generation, 33.2% of men in their 20s and 46.1% of women in their 20s said they had no intention of marrying, while 41.0% of men in their 30s and 56.6% of women in their 30s expressed the same. Among women in their 30s, 16.3% answered that they would "never get married," about twice the 8.7% of men in the same age group.

Reasons for Remaining Single... Women: 'I Think I'd Be Happier Alone' · Men: 'Due to Economic Instability'

The most common reason women gave for not wanting to marry was "I think living alone would make me happier" (46.3%), followed by "I don't want to live according to someone else's expectations" (34.9%). In contrast, men cited "economic instability" (42.6%) and "difficulty meeting marriage conditions" (40.8%) as their top reasons for not wanting to marry.

Women who cited "rejection of patriarchy and gender inequality" as a reason for remaining single (34.4%) were more than four times as many as men (8.2%). Additionally, 69.1% of women believed that marriage would negatively affect their professional achievements, about twice the 38.6% of men who felt the same. This suggests that women experience greater psychological burdens regarding life changes after marriage.

38.5% of Men and 56.8% of Women Have No Intention to Have Children... Gender Perception Gap Larger Than for Marriage

Differences between genders were also evident regarding intentions to have children. Among unmarried young adults aged 20 to 39, 47% responded that they do not intend to have children. Of these, 38.5% of men and 56.8% of women said they do not consider having children, showing an 18.3% gap. The difference in childbearing intentions by gender was 4.5% higher than the difference in marriage intentions, indicating a larger gender perception gap regarding childbirth than marriage.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

Men cited economic burdens as reasons for not having children, such as "the enormous cost of child education" (43.6%) and "lack of financial resources to care for and raise children" (41.5%). In contrast, women most frequently mentioned psychological burdens, including "difficulty managing the personal time and effort required for childcare" (49.7%) and "lack of confidence in raising children properly" (35.1%).

Higher Job Satisfaction Correlates with Greater Intentions to Marry and Have Children

The survey also found that intentions to marry and have children vary significantly depending on job quality. Among those with high job satisfaction, 68.4% responded that they "will marry" or "want to marry," whereas only 46.3% of those with low job satisfaction said the same. Similarly, 60.2% of those with high job satisfaction intended to have children, compared to 45.2% among those with low job satisfaction, a 15 percentage point difference. The gap in marriage and childbirth intentions based on job satisfaction was especially pronounced among women.

Meanwhile, according to the "Low Fertility and Changes in Our Society" report released by Statistics Korea in July, the number of marriages in Korea last year was 192,000, down by 103,000 from 295,000 in 1970. As marriages declined, the number of births also plummeted. Last year, the number of newborns was 249,000, about half of the 485,000 recorded in 2012, ten years earlier. The total fertility rate was 0.78, making Korea the only country worldwide with a fertility rate below 1.

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