This file photo taken May 21, 2023, shows the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong in central Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Half of South Korean men are single without having been married before, while 1 in 3 women are also single, data showed Tuesday.
According to a report released by Statistics Korea, there were 192,000 marriages in South Korea last year, a drop of 103,000 cases since 1970.
The crude marriage rate, which shows the proportion of marriages for every 1,000 people, dropped from 9.2 in 1970 to 3.7 last year.
The percentage of single men between the ages of 25 and 49 rose from 35.3 percent in 2010 to 40.2 percent in 2015 and 47.1 percent in 2020.
The percentage of single women, too, jumped from 22.6 percent in 2010 to 27.1 percent in 2015 and 32.9 percent in 2020.
The data also showed there were 7,700 births outside of marriage in 2021, accounting for 2.9 percent of the total.
In statistics related to work and family balance, female participation in economic activities and employment rose significantly.
Female participation in economic activity jumped from 48.8 percent in 2000 to 54.6 percent last year.
The female employment rate, too, jumped up to 60 percent last year.
Women with career interruptions accounted for 17.2 percent of all married women between the ages of 15 and 54. As for the reason for their career being cut off, 42.7 percent pointed to childcare, followed by marriage (26.3 percent) and pregnancy/childbirth (22.8 percent).
The gender gap in homemaking was still quite significant.
According to the Statistics Korea Social Survey, only 20 percent of husbands and wives believed that their homemaking responsibilities were evenly divided among them.
As of 2019, men spent an average of 56 minutes on homemaking every day. Women, in contrast, spent 3 hours and 13 minutes.
In households with double breadwinners, husbands spent an average of 54 minutes in homemaking, while wives spent 3 hours and 7 minutes.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
