South Korean marriage rate rises for first time in decade

More couples in South Korea now want to get married bringing good news to a country that has been witnessing a sharp decline in birth rates. The number of marriages in South Korea rose slightly in 2023 for the first time in more than a decade.

A total of 193,657 couples got married last year, up 1.0 per cent from 191,690 a year earlier and the first increase since 2011, Statistics Korea data showed on Tuesday.

The rise can also be credited to the lifting of restrictions following the COVID pandemic as the government allowed more social gatherings to occur.

The 2023 figure, however, remains well below the 239,159 marriages seen in 2019 and compares with an annual figure of more than 320,000 recorded 10 years earlier.

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Why are couples getting married now?

Experts say that couples deciding to delay nuptials are boosting marriages better in the first half of 2023 than in the second half of 2022.

“In the second half of 2023, however, marriages fell year-on-year, indicating that people who had been delaying marriage due to COVID-19 have now mostly got married,” the official told a briefing.

The 2023 increase was also well below the jump in neighbouring China, where marriages rose 12.4 per cent last year, as more couples tied the knot after delays due to the pandemic.

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Why weren’t couples getting married till now?

Up until now, South Korean couples cited rising costs of housing to be a major hurdle in their decision to tie the knot.

Also, since marriages are seen as a prerequisite to having babies, fewer weddings translate to fewer births in the country.

A recent survey of 500 South Koreans aged between 19 to 23 showed 50.4 per cent of respondents did not plan on getting married or having children, Yonhap news agency reported.

The government has vowed to bring in “extraordinary measures” to tackle the low birth rate, with political parties promising public housing and easier loans for young South Koreans ahead of the April legislative election.

With inputs from Reuters