60% of Unmarried Men and Women Say "Hide Debt and Marry? Considering Divorce"

Duo, 'Spouse's Debt' Survey
96% of Singles Say "Checking Debt Before Marriage Is Essential"

More than six out of ten unmarried men and women responded that they would consider divorce if their spouse hid debt before marriage. Additionally, the most common amount of debt that prospective spouses could handle was 'less than 20 million KRW.'

On the 26th, the marriage information company Duo announced the results of a survey conducted by the survey firm Macromill Embrain from the 22nd to the 25th of last month. The survey targeted 500 unmarried men and women aged 25 to 39 (250 men and 250 women) regarding 'spouse's debt.'

According to the survey results, when respondents found out that their spouse had hidden debt before marriage, more than half answered that they would 'consider divorce' (63.8%). The next most common responses were 'reluctantly continue the marriage' (22.8%) and 'divorce' (13.4%).

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When asked about the amount of debt they could handle from a prospective spouse, the most common answer was 'less than 20 million KRW' (39.4%), followed by '20 million KRW or more but less than 40 million KRW' (26.4%), '40 million KRW or more but less than 60 million KRW' (14.0%), '80 million KRW or more but less than 100 million KRW' (5.2%), '60 million KRW or more but less than 80 million KRW' (3.8%), '100 million KRW or more but less than 200 million KRW' (2.6%), '300 million KRW or more' (1.0%), and '200 million KRW or more but less than 300 million KRW' (0.4%). Additionally, 7.2% of respondents said they 'absolutely cannot understand' having debt.

The types of spouse's debt that respondents found understandable were 'student loans' (88.4%, multiple answers allowed), 'housing-related loans' (79.8%), 'health-related debt such as surgery' (74.2%), 'debt due to parents or siblings' (21.8%), 'living expense loans' (17.8%), and 'debt from business or investment failures' (11.6%).

Most respondents (96.0%) believed it is essential to check a spouse's debt before marriage. Also, nine out of ten unmarried men and women (88.2%) said that if a prospective spouse confessed to having debt before marriage, they would 'decide whether to marry after confirming the size and type of debt.' Meanwhile, 6.0% said they would 'understand everything and marry,' and 5.8% said they would 'postpone or cancel the marriage.'

Regarding reasons for not being able to marry a prospective spouse with debt, nearly half of respondents regardless of gender cited 'because a smooth married life seems impossible' (men 46.8%, women 47.3%). Other reasons included 'because someone who has been in debt once will likely continue to be in debt' (men 21.2%, women 19.7%), 'because having debt means lacking financial sense' (men 17.7%, women 13.0%), and 'because they do not want to share the burden of their spouse's debt' (men 10.4%, women 15.1%).

On the other hand, those who said they could marry a prospective spouse with debt gave reasons such as 'because moderate debt can be repaid together' (men 58.2%, women 63.7%). This was followed by 'because they think debt can happen in life' (men 22.4%, women 16.7%), 'because the prospective spouse said they would handle their own debt' (men 6.3%, women 11.5%), and 'because they want to share the burden of the person they love' (men 13.1%, women 4.3%).

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