The number of South Koreans who said "
yes
" in 2022 fell to its lowest level since 1970, according to data released Thursday, March 16, in a country with the lowest birth rate in the world.
Nearly 192,000 couples got married last year according to Statistics Korea (KOSTAT).
This is the lowest figure since 1970, when the first statistics on the subject were published.
It also marks a drop of 40% compared to the year 2012, when 327,000 couples were united.
In the context of a first union, the average age of married couples reached its highest level: 33.7 years for the husband and 31.3 years for the wife.
This is respectively 1.6 years and 1.9 years older than 10 years ago for a first marriage.
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Declining birth rate
In addition to declining marriages, South Korea is facing a chronic decline in its birth rate, with the lowest number of births on record (249,000) in 2022, breaking the record set the previous year.
South Korea has long been below the replacement threshold needed for generational replacement, with a historically low rate of 0.78 births per woman last year.
The government has spent nearly 280 trillion won (200 billion euros) since 2006 to boost the birth rate, but South Korea's population is still expected to fall from around 52 million to 39 million in 2067, with a projected average age 62 years old.
Experts believe that several causes explain this double phenomenon of a drop in the number of marriages and the birth rate, namely the high cost of raising children and housing, in a competitive society where remunerative jobs are difficult to obtain.
The double burden that weighs on mothers, namely to take care of the majority of household chores and children in addition to their professional career, is also a key factor, according to specialists.
