Fewer marriages

Fewer marriages, fewer babies

In Korea, most babies are born to married couples. So when marriages fall, births fall too. Marriages per year dropped by more than half, from about 435,000 in 1996 to about 194,000 in 2023.

Why?In some countries, more than half of babies are born to unmarried parents. In Korea that is very rare, so the number of marriages turns almost directly into the number of babies.

Go furtherIn 2024, marriages rose again to 222,000. A marriage usually leads to a birth one or two years later, so this can affect births too.