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By Micah McCartney
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Marriages in South Korea have dropped by nearly half over the past three decades, while annual births have fallen to just one-third of 1995 levels, according to newly released data.
The numbers show what officials consider a looming population crisis.
Why It Matters
South Korea's fertility rate—the lowest in the world—stood at 0.75 births per woman in 2024, well below the 2.1 needed to sustain a population. The same year, the share of South Koreans aged 65 and older passed 20 percent.
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The demographic shift could drag on the country's economic prospects and strain its pension and health care systems, with fewer young workers supporting a growing elderly population. Analysts have cited high housing costs, an unforgiving workplace culture and unequal burdens of child care as key reasons young South Koreans are deciding to delay or forgo children.
Newsweek reached out to the South Korean Embassy in the U.S. via email for comment.
What To Know
The Korean Statistical Information Service on Wednesday published data comparing marriage and birth patterns in 2024 against those from 1995, offering a generational look at the country's demographic transition.
The number of couples who tied the knot rose to 222,400 in 2024, a 15 percent jump over the previous year but down 44 percent compared with the 1995 figure of 398,500. Marriages peaked in 1996 at just over 430,000 before entering their long decline.
South Korean women, as in most high-income countries, are marrying far later than before. The average age at marriage in 2024 was 31.6 years, compared with 25.3 in 1995. For men, the average age rose from 28.4 to 33.9 over the same period.
Meanwhile, births have fallen precipitously, from 715,000 in 1995 to 238,000 in 2024.
Like marriages, they saw a slight rebound from 2023, which had marked a record low of 230,000. Demographers attributed the uptick to delayed pregnancies following the COVID-19 pandemic and a bulge of women entering their 30s.
But the structural decline remains. South Koreans are having fewer children beyond the first, with second or later births comprising just 52.6 percent of the total in 2024, compared with 83 percent in 1995.
What People Are Saying
Rhee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, at the Global Engagement and Empowerment Forum in Seoul in March: "The current fertility rate constitutes a national emergency. If this trend continues, Korea faces an irreversible population crisis that threatens economic stability and social cohesion. [...] If the fertility rate remains at 0.75, Korea will inevitably face prolonged negative economic growth after 2050."
What Happens Next
Seoul has spent hundreds of billions of dollars since 2008 in a bid to spur marriages and births, offering cash subsidies, housing perks, extended parental leave and fertility treatments. The government is even launching a ministry tasked with population strategy.
So far, success remains elusive. It's uncertain whether recently introduced or new measures can upend the three-decade trends.
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