One-third young feel positively about marriage

A recent survey has found that only one-third of young South Koreans feel positively about marriage, CNN reported.

The country’s citizens are increasingly shunning marriage and parenthood.

A new government report highlights that the trend has accelerated over the past decade, spelling demographic trouble for the ageing nation in the years ahead.

The report which surveys residents between the ages of 19 and 34 every two years, was released on Monday by the official Statistics Korea. It found just 36.4 per cent of respondents polled last year said they had a positive perception of marriage – down from 56.5 per cent in 2012, CNN reported.

The fall reflects the growing pressures on young South Koreans, including economic concerns such as unaffordable housing and rising costs of living.

The report cites reasons for young people not getting married. The reasons include not having enough money for marriage and the feeling that it’s simply not necessary.

And among the third of respondents with a positive perception of marriage, results skew heavily toward men – with just 28 per cent of women responding positively.

There could be various reasons for this; multiple South Korean women told CNN in 2019 that they had safety concerns when it comes to dating, exacerbated by high-profile news stories about sex crimes, voyeurism and gender discrimination.

Women’s advancements in education and the workplace also mean the “opportunity cost of marriage” is much higher for women now than in previous generations; by getting married, they may have to compromise on their career or education, especially given entrenched gender norms and difficulties re-entering work after childbirth, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

That means many educated women with steady jobs are instead postponing marriage and parenthood. There’s even a word, “bihon,” that refers to women who choose to forgo marriage.

Attitudes among respondents toward childbirth are similarly dismissive, the Statistics Korea report found. Of those surveyed last year, more than half said they didn’t see the need to have a child, even after marriage – a rate that has been steadily rising since 2018, as per CNN.