South Korea saw significant decline in marriages and births over 30 years

South Korea has gone through a dramatic drop in demographics over the past three decades in both the numbers of newlyweds and newborns.

Park Jun-han has the details.

The number of marriages in South Korea has almost halved over the past 30 years, sounding the alarm on the severity of the population crisis already underway.

Statistics Korea released a report on Wednesday, called "Changes in marriage and birth rates in Korea over the past 30 years."

According to the data, marriages peaked at 435-thousand in 1996 but fell steadily to a record low of 192-thousand in 2022, before modest rebounds to 194-thousand in 2023 and 222-thousand in 2024.

This is an over 44 percent decline from nearly 400-thousand back in 1995.

The number of marriages with foreign spouses in South Korea, however, surged some 54 percent, rising from 13-thousand-500 in 1995 to 20-thousand-800 in 2024.

As of 2024, marriages with foreign spouses account for 9-point-3 percent of all unions.

The average age at first marriage has also sharply climbed.

From 28-point-4 years old for men and 25-point-3 years old for women in 1995, the average age at first marriage rose to 33-point-9 for men and 31-point-6 for women in 2024.

This is up 5-point-5 and 6-point-2 years respectively.

Births over the past 30 years have declined even more sharply.

From 715-thousand in 1995 to 238-thousand in 2024, it saw a drop of over 66 percent, after bottoming at 230-thousand in 2023.

A senior researcher at the Population Policy Research Center claimed that the continuous decline in South Korea's young population will shrink the country's overall societal structure, leading to crises.

"The situation can be summed up in three points: a shrinking young population, an aging society, and rising political conflicts driven by growing disparities. If this continues, more people will inevitably flock to the metropolitan area, while regional areas face not only a population decline but also a drop in the quality of human resources, making recovery extremely difficult. We are now at a critical juncture that calls for decisive political action."

Looking at changes in the total fertility rate among OECD countries from 1995 to 2023,

South Korea is now the only country where it has fallen by more than 50 percent, sounding a serious alarm for the nation's future sustainability.

Park Jun-han, Arirang News.