According to a 2018 government survey, only 48.1 percent of people aged 13 and older think they must get married. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEJONG, March 19 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of South Koreans getting married sank to an all-time low in 2019, government data showed Thursday, as young people increasingly delay marriage amid a prolonged economic slowdown.
The number of couples tying the knot in Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached 239,200 in 2019, down 7.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
The figure is the lowest since 1970, when the statistical agency began compiling related data.
The drop comes as many young South Koreans are delaying marriage or giving up on marriage altogether amid difficulties finding decent jobs or buying homes.
According to a 2018 government survey, only 48.1 percent of people aged 13 and older think they must get married. It marks the first time for the ratio to drop below 50.
The latest data also showed that the average age of South Korean men getting married reached a record high of 33.4 years last year, compared with 33.2 years in 2018.
The median marrying age of first-time brides stood at 30.6 years in 2019, up 0.2 year from the prior year.
The number of South Koreans marrying a foreign spouse came to 23,600 in 2019, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier.
Among them, Vietnamese brides accounted for the lion’s share at 37.9 percent, followed by Chinese at 20.6 percent and Thai at 11.6 percent.
In comparison, American men accounted for 24.6 percent of foreign males who got married with South Korean women, followed by Chinese with 23.6 percent and Vietnamese with 10.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of divorces in South Korea came to 118,000 last year, up 2 percent from the previous year, with couples married 20 years or longer accounting for the largest percent of the total at 34.7.
(Yonhap)
