Two in every 5 South Korean will live alone in 2050. AFP.
Seoul: A number of men and women in South Korea are rejecting the idea of Big 30, the defining threshold for young South Koreans to get married in the country. So much so that the proportion of South Koreans expected to be living alone in 2050 is expected to be more than double from the start of the millennium.
Statistically speaking
As per Statistics Korea, people living by themselves comprised about 7.2 million, or a third of households, in 2021, more than that any multiple-number family group. The ratio, which stood at 15.5 per cent in 2000, will probably swell to almost 40 per cent by the middle of the century.
Reports say the numbers reflect that family dynamics is evolving as Korea cope with both social norms and economic conditions in a country that has rapidly developed.
40 per cent household has one person
According to a report in The Washington Post, a record 40 per cent of households in South Korea now consist of just one person. Official statistics show that some 193,000 marriages were registered in 2021, a nearly 10 per cent drop from the previous year and the lowest since records were kept in 1970.
Decline in birth
The number of births too has declined to 5 per 1,000 individuals, putting South Korea at the bottom of developed nations as tracked by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Possible reasons
Reports say that a lack of money and job security make up almost half of the reasons single men and women gave for not getting married while 12 per cent of respondents said they feel burdened by having to raise children. Furthermore, about 25 per cent said they have not found the right partner and do not feel a need to settle down with a spouse.
Interestingly, while the demographic trends, which are somewhat similar in Japan and China, have sparked depopulation worries, along with shrinking workforce and contracting economy, experts attribute the decline to particularly women prioritising personal freedom and career over a traditional family lifestyle.
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