SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — More Koreans are starting to consider marriage as a dispensable life event. According to a survey conducted by Statistics Korea in 2014, 38.9 percent of Korean respondents over 13 said that they regarded marriage as dispensable while 2.0 percent of the respondents said that they considered marriage as completely unnecessary. The 38.9 percent figure was an increase of 5.3 percent from 2012.
Men were more inclined to the idea of marriage than women, as 34.4 percent of the male respondents considered marriage as dispensable, compared to 43.2 percent for female respondents.
Respondents in their thirties were the most nonchalant about marriage, as 50.7 percent saw marriage as dispensable, while only 20.8 percent of the respondents in their sixties answered similarly.
Back in 2002, only 27.2 percent of respondents to Statistics Korea’s survey answered that they saw marriage as dispensable. The figure stayed under 30 percent until 2008, but increased to 33.6 percent in 2012.
Koreans are also becoming more open about the idea of marital separation, as 39.9 percent of the respondents in 2014 said that they were not necessarily judgmental about divorces.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
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