Record high of 46 pct of newlyweds in S Korea have no children in 2022: data
The number of newly married couples fell more than 6 percent to come to around 1 million in 2022, and the proportion of the couples having no children reached an all-time high, data showed Monday, Yonhap reports.
The number of newly married couples came to 1.03 million last year, down from the previous year's 1.1 million, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
The newlyweds here refer to couples who tied the knot for the first time in the five years up to November 2022.
The figure has shown a downtrend from 1.47 million in 2015 to 1.32 million in 2018 and 1.18 million in 2020.
Of the couples, 46.4 percent did not have children, a record high proportion since 2015, when Statistics Korea began compiling the related data.
The number of babies born to the newlyweds came to 0.65 in 2022, also an all-time low. The comparable figure for 2021 came to 0.66.
South Korea has been struggling with a low birthrate and population aging, as many young people opt to postpone or give up on getting married or having babies in line with changing social norms and lifestyles, as well as in the face of high home prices, a tough job market and an economic slowdown.
The country's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- came to just 0.79 in the third quarter of 2023.
It was much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep South Korea's population stable at 52 million.
This undated image, provided by Yonhap News TV, shows marriage life. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
This undated image, provided by Yonhap News TV, shows marriage life. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The newlyweds earned a yearly average income of 67.9 million won (US$51,482) last year, up 6.1 percent on-year, as more couples had dual incomes.
Some 57.2 percent of the newlyweds had dual incomes in 2022, up from 54.9 percent a year earlier.
The dual-income households earned 84.33 million won, compared to 49.94 million won tallied for single-income couples.
Some 89.9 percent of the newly married couples had loans, and the median amount spiked 73 percent on-year to 164.17 million won in 2022.
Around 29.9 percent of the couples resided in Gyeonggi Province, followed by those living in Seoul with 17.8 percent and the western city of Incheon with 6.1 percent, and some 40 percent of the total owned homes, the data showed.
