Children take photos at a garden in Suncheon, 286 kilometers south of Seoul, in this file photo taken March 25, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is grappling with a serious social challenge posed by its alarmingly low birth rate, one of the lowest in the world.
An analysis conducted by the Korea Labor Institute has revealed that income inequality among men may be a crucial factor contributing to declining marriage rates, which, in turn, exacerbates the issue of low birth rates.
The report, titled “Dynamic Analysis of Labor and Fertility Intentions,” emphasizes that the country’s declining birth rate cannot be attributed solely to women and highlights the paucity of studies on delayed marriage among Korean men.
The report draws on data from 2017 to 2019 to underscore the strong correlation between income levels and marriage rates among men across all age groups, with the widest gap observed among those aged 40 and above.
The analysis discovered that a meager 8 percent of those in the lowest income bracket aged 26 to 30 had ever been married, compared to 29 percent of their peers in the highest income bracket.
Similarly, among those aged 31 to 35, only 31 percent of the lowest income quintile had been married, compared to 76 percent of the highest income group.
Additionally, the report highlights that higher-income men tend to marry at a faster pace after their late thirties, while lower-income men often remain unmarried.
The study cautioned that increasing inequality in men’s wages could decrease the likelihood of marriage by raising the number of men who fall below the income threshold required for marriage.
“Marriage rates are declining even though the average financial capability among men is better than in the past,” Kwak Eun-hye, an associate researcher who contributed to the report, noted.
“These findings suggest that policy attention to men’s income inequality and distribution can help address the declining fertility rate.”
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
