This file photo shows wedding gowns on display in a wedding fair. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of matchmaking agencies reportedly spiked during the pandemic due to challenges in organizing offline dates, leading to a trend of assessing potential partners’ backgrounds and requirements before arranging meetings.
There were 1,841 matchmaking agencies in the country as of February, representing a 17.1 percent increase from the pre-pandemic era in 2019, according to data compiled by the National Tax Service.
The matchmaking industry experienced a decline in recent years, with a drop from 1,613 businesses in February 2017 to 1,609 in 2018 and 1,572 in 2019.
However, when the pandemic emerged in 2020, the number of matchmaking agencies rebounded to 1,611, indicating a 2.5 percent rise from the previous year. The upward trend has continued since then.
In contrast, the number of marriages and wedding halls has continued to decline.
The number of marriages in South Korea decreased from 264,455 in 2019 to 191,690 last year.
Similarly, the number of wedding halls dropped from over 1,000 in 2018 to 747 in 2023.
Fewer young South Koreans perceive marriage as a necessity.
The poll by Statistics Korea showed that only 40.6 percent of individuals in their 20s and 42.3 percent of those in their 30s believed that they should get married. This represents a 20 percentage point decrease compared to 2008.
“Since the marriage industry faces communication difficulties, people lack avenues to find suitable partners, and matchmaking agencies aim to solve that problem,” said Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor at Jeonbuk National University.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
