South Korea's marriage rate to rise in 2023 after 11 years of decline

According to data released by Statistics Korea on March 19, South Korea will have a total of 193,657 couples getting married in 2023, up 1.0% from 191,690 couples getting married in 2022, marking the first increase since 2011.

A wedding ceremony in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Reuters

However, the 2023 figure is still much lower than the 239,159 marriages in 2019, and compared to the average of more than 320,000 marriages per year recorded in the previous 10 years.

Couples delaying weddings because of the COVID-19 pandemic is a contributing factor to more marriages in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, a government official said.

In 2020, when South Korea began imposing restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of marriages fell by 10.7%. A year later, the number of marriages fell by 9.8% as restrictions were not eased.

"In the second half of 2023, the number of marriages decreased compared to the same period last year, indicating that most of those who had delayed marriage due to COVID-19 have now gotten married," the official said at a press conference.

South Korea's 2023 increase is also much lower than that in neighboring China, where the marriage rate rose 12.4% last year, as more couples tied the knot after delays due to the pandemic.

Most South Koreans say high housing costs are the biggest obstacle to getting married. Marriage is considered a prerequisite for having children in the Asian country.

South Korea's birth rate, already the world's lowest, will continue to fall sharply in 2023, as women delay or choose not to have children due to concerns about their careers and the cost of raising children.

A recent survey of 500 South Koreans aged 19 to 23 found that 50.4 percent of respondents had no plans to get married or have children, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea's government has vowed to roll out "extraordinary measures" to tackle its low birth rate, with promises of public housing and easier loans for young Koreans ahead of legislative elections in April.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ty-le-ket-hon-cua-han-quoc-tang-vao-nam-2023-nhung-van-thap-so-voi-truoc-covid-19-post288431.html