hankyoreh

(ClipartKorea)

Only 3 in 10 South Koreans aged 25 to 39 are married, statistics show.

While married men were found to have higher rates of employment and income than their unmarried counterparts, married women had lower employment and income rates than unmarried women. Analysts suggested that a factor in this has to do with interruptions in women’s professional activities due to marriage and childbirth.

On Tuesday, Statistics Korea published a report entitled “Analysis of Social and Economic Characteristics of Young People Aged 25 to 39 in 2022 Based on the Presence or Absence of a Spouse.”

That report found 33.7% of South Koreans in the age group to have a spouse, a decrease of 4.8 percentage points from 2020. By age range, 7.9% of South Koreans aged 25 to 29 were married, compared with 34.2% of those aged 30 to 34 and 60.3% of those aged 35 to 39.

Regionally, marriage rates were found to be lower in major cities such as Seoul (25.0%), Busan (30.9%), Daejeon (32.4%), and Gwangju (32.7%) and higher in areas such as Sejong (51.4%) and South Chungcheong Province (39.9%).

Analysis of the employment rates (percentage of people with registered employment) and income (annual median income) for married and unmarried men and women showed clear gender-based differences.

The employment rate among married men was 91.1%, which was higher than the 73.5% rate among unmarried men. The annual median income for married men was 50,990,000 won, which was significantly higher than the rate of 34,290,000 won for unmarried men.

In contrast, the 61.1% employment rate for married women was lower than the 71.8% for unmarried women, while the annual median income for married women was 28,110,000 won, which was less than the rate of 30,130,000 won for unmarried women.

An analysis based on the presence or absence of children found that women with children had lower rates of employment (58.5%) and income (25,800,000 won) than women without children (69.7% and 32,550,000 won, respectively).

A Statistics Korea official said, “It means that women’s economic activities have been impacted by career interruptions and difficulties with sustaining both professional and home activities due to marriage, childbirth, and child-raising.”

Statistics also showed 76.7% of married South Koreans aged 20 to 39 to be living in apartments, which was higher than the 47.6% rate for unmarried people in the same age group. Among unmarried young people, 41.5% lived in studio apartments or villas (small-scale apartment buildings), or more than double the 19.3% rate for married young people in the same age range.

At 31.7%, married young people had a much higher rate of home ownership than unmarried young people (10.2%).

By Ahn Tae-ho, staff reporter

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