South Korea’s marriages rise for first time in more than decade

South Korean marriages ticked up for the first time in more than a decade last year for a rare sign of improvement in a factor behind the nation having the world’s lowest fertility rate.

Some 193,000 couples tied the knot in 2023 in a 1 per cent increase from a year earlier, ending a decline that began in 2012, according to data released on Tuesday from the national statistics office. Still, the number remained at about half the level seen a decade ago.

Couples who had postponed weddings during the COVID-19 pandemic helped drive up the number, Statistics Korea said in a separate briefing, adding there was also an increase in marriages between Koreans and foreigners.

In a country where births out of wedlock are sparse, marriages are considered an indicator of the fertility rate, which reached a new depth last year. The link between marriages and births remains strong, but it’s still too early to say the latest increase will send fertility higher, the statistics office said.

Meanwhile, the age at which people got married for the first time rose further to 33.97 for men and 31.45 for women. Demographic research indicates the earlier a couple gets married, the more likely they are to have multiple children. South Korea expects its population to fall from 51 million in 2022 to about 36 million by 2072.

 WAM