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Increasing numbers of women in their 30s are happy to stay single. Their proportion jumped from just 13.3 percent in 2005 to 28.1 percent last year, according to the latest census released by Statistics Korea on Monday.
Single men and women accounted for a whopping 36.3 percent of people in their 30s. Single men in their 40s also multiplied from 6.5 percent to 18.2 percent over the past 10 years. Married people accounted for 55.9 percent of the total and divorcees for 5.1 percent.
Highly educated women are especially prone to staying single, but the same is not true for men.
Among women who only completed high school, just 7.7 percent were single, but among women with vocational college diplomas the figure is 16.3 percent and among university graduates 18.9 percent.
"Men still commonly marry women who have a lower education than they do, but women rarely do," a Statistics Korea spokesman explained.
Single households increased from 4.14 million in 2010 to 5.2 million in 2015. Four out of 10 singles rent their home and one-third own it.
Korean Women Have Children Later Than Anywhere Else
Korean women have their first child later in their lives than women in any other country. And as more and more Korean women put off marriage until they grow older, an increasing number are opting to have no children at all due to fears of birth defects associated with late pregnancies.
This results in a vicious cycle of an ever-declining birth rate and a growing number of older couples being unable to plan for their retirement as they must support their children.
Mothers Get Older
Figures from EUROSTAT, the OECD, Statistics Korea and the Japan Bureau of Statistics show that Korean women have their first child on average at 30.7 years of age, compared to Italy at 30.6 years, Japan and Spain at 30.4 years and Luxembourg at 30 years.
Women in Bulgaria have their first child at 25.7.
Korean women have their first child later than their counterparts in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan as well.
A study by Statistics Korea last year showed Korean women having their first child at an average age of 30.97, up from 26.23 years in 1993. In 2013, 60.4 percent of women who had their first child that year were over 30, compared to just 11.8 percent in 1993.
First-time mothers are also getting older faster here than in Europe. From 1995 to 2013, the average age of Korean women having their first child rose from 26.5 to 30.7, compared to 28.1 to 30.6 in Italy, 28.4 to 30.4 in Spain and 28.4 to 29.4 in the Netherlands.
The main reason is that more Korean women postpone marriage until later in life, and most Korean women only have children when they get married.
Better Education Delays Marriage
Improving education of women and a growing number of women in the workforce are the main reasons behind the rise in the age of first-time mothers. Korea's scholastic achievement has been the highest in the world since the 2000s.
In 2000, only 37 percent of Korean women in the fertile age of 25 to 34 graduated from university, which was lower than in Japan and Canada (48 percent), Finland (39 percent) and the U.S. (38 percent). But in 2014, that had risen to 68 percent, higher than in Japan (59 percent), Canada (57 percent) and the U.S. (44 percent).
"Women with higher levels of education get good jobs and end up either delaying marriage or not getting married, or having second thoughts about children even after marriage. All this has contributed to the ever-decreasing birth rate," said Lee Sang-rim at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
And Kwak Keum-joo at Seoul National University said, "Aside from economic issues, professional women believe that they will be unable to compete at work if they have to balance their jobs and childcare."
Half of Koreans Don't Feel the Need to Marry
One in two Koreans no longer feels the need to marry and a growing number of people accept that unmarried couples live together, according to a survey by Statistics Korea. The institution of marriage is weakening, and other pressures now occupy center stage in people's life. Half the public are stressed and anxiety is growing over crime and health.
Statistics Korea conducts the social survey annually focusing on five topics: family, education, health, public safety and environment. This time it polled 38,600 people over 13.
Family Values
The proportion of respondents who feel marriage is necessary is falling rapidly, from 56.8 percent in 2014 to 51.9 percent this year, while 48 percent now think it is fine for unmarried couples to live together. Meanwhile the proportion who think divorce must be avoided at all costs fell from 44.4 percent in 2014 to 39.5 percent this year.
The role of the patriarch is also weakening. The proportion of teenagers who turn to their parents for advice stands at only 24.1 percent, and of those a mere 3.5 percent look to their father for guidance, compared to 20.6 percent who turn to their mothers. But 44.4 percent prefer to ask their friends.
Some 75.4 percent said Korea's wedding customs are excessive, reflecting how tired many are of the high cost and complicated procedures.
Education
More than 65 percent said education is too expensive. A majority said the main reason is spending on private after-school tutoring.
More and more hope to send their children to study abroad, rising from 55.6 percent in 2014 to 57.4 percent this year. Naturally the rich were the keenest with 65.3 percent of households earning more than W6 million a month saying they want to educate their kids abroad (US$1=W1,174).
Parents and children differ about how much education is enough. Among schoolkids, 64.7 percent said they want to graduate from a university compared to 72.8 percent of parents. The higher the parent's education, the more they wished their children to earn a master's degree.
Health
Most Koreans are stressed, with 54.7 percent of men and 57.3 percent of women, and many turn to alcohol and cigarettes to help them relax. Two out of three or 65.4 percent drink regularly, a slight increase compared to two years ago.
The proportion who said they drink to socialize fell from 61.2 to 53.1 percent, but the proportion who drink due to stress rose from 35.3 to 41.1 percent. However, the number of smokers fell from 22.7 to 20.8 percent due to the cigarette price hike.
Suicidal urges waned slightly from 6.8 percent to 6.4 percent, while more women (7.5 percent) than men (5.3 percent) felt these impulses. Money problems were the most cited reason with 35.5 percent of that group.
Social Environment
Koreans are beset by multiple anxieties. Some 45.5 percent said they fear crime or illness. Fears of crime (29.7 percent), threats to national security (19.3 percent) and economic risks (15.5 percent) are the most prevalent. Fear of man-made disasters (21 percent) dwindled while anxiety about economic risks rose 5.8 percentage points.
The proportion who feel Korean society will become safer in the next five years fell from 20.2 to 15.4 percent, while those who feel it will become more dangerous increased from 27.1 to 38.5 percent.
People are acutely sensitive to air pollution as the country suffers frequent toxic hazes blown over from China with 79.4 percent.
Low Income, Poor Education Dim Marriage Prospects for Men
Men in their 20s and 30s with low levels of education or non-regular jobs have trouble finding someone who will marry them, according to a study by the Korea Labor and Society Institute.
Only 6.9 percent of men in their 20s and 30s in the bottom 10 percent of the wage bracket are married, compared to 82.5 percent in the same age group who earn top dollar.
A full 100 percent of men with PhDs are married, compared to 66.6 percent of Master's degree holders, 47.9 percent for university graduates and 39.6 percent of men who only have a high school diploma. The proportion falls to 35.4 percent for men who only completed middle school.
Among men with full-time jobs, 53.1 percent are married, compared to just 28.9 percent for those in non-regular employment.
Among women the trend is rather less marked. Women in their 20s and 30s are most likely to be married either if their earnings are in the top 10 percent or if they have not finished high school.
The proportion of married women among those with secure full-time jobs and those in temporary employment is about the same at 37.3 percent and 39.8 percent. Among women with low income, 42.1 percent are married, six times higher than among men in the same category.
Kim Yoo-sun at the institute who undertook the study said, "The general belief remains that men are in charge of providing for the family, while women contribute to earnings."
The institute said if the government wants to boost the low birthrate, it should focus on creating more stable jobs rather than supporting childbirth or increasing child-rearing programs.
The government has spent trillions of won since 2006 to support childcare, but the marriage rate keeps declining. The birthrate dropped to 1.08 in 2005 and has inched up to only 1.24.
Kim said, "Men who have no secure job that can guarantee their family's livelihood are having a tough time finding brides, leading to low marriage rates and a low birthrate. We need to provide more stable jobs that enable young people to tie the knot and have children."
(The Chosun Ilbo)
