One Million Newlywed Couples Also at Risk... Number of Children at Historic Low of 0.65

Statistics Korea 2022 Newlywed Couple Statistics
Last Year Total 1.032 Million Couples... 6.3% Decrease
Dual-Income Children Proportion Down 9.6%P Compared to Single-Income

The number of newlywed couples married within 5 years decreased by 69,000 pairs in one year, falling to the 1 million range. The average number of children among first-marriage newlyweds was recorded as the lowest ever.

According to the '2022 Newlywed Couples Statistics' released by Statistics Korea on the 11th, as of November 1 last year, the number of newlywed couples residing in Korea who had been married for less than 5 years was 1,032,000 pairs, a 6.3% decrease compared to the previous year. The number of newlywed couples was the lowest since related statistics began in 2015.

The number of newlywed couples has been decreasing annually from 1,322,000 pairs in 2018 to 1,260,000 in 2019, 1,184,000 in 2020, and 1,101,000 in 2021. In particular, couples in their first year of marriage last year numbered 186,000 pairs, down 3.2% from the previous year.

Among all newlywed couples, 815,000 pairs (79.0%) were first marriages, and 214,000 pairs (20.7%) were remarriages. The proportion of first-marriage newlywed couples with children was 53.6%, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous year. The average number of children was 0.65, a decrease of 0.01 from the previous year, marking the lowest level. Kim Ji-eun, head of the Administrative Statistics Division at the Statistics Data Hub Bureau, said, "The number of newlywed couples has been decreasing every year since the statistics began, but the decline has slightly slowed as couples who postponed marriage due to COVID-19 have now married."

The proportion of couples with children among dual-income couples (49.8%) was 9.6 percentage points lower than that of single-income couples (59.4%). The proportion of couples with children where the wife is economically active (49.2%) was 11.7 percentage points lower than that of couples where the wife is not economically active (60.9%). The proportion of couples with children among those without home ownership (49.5%) was also 10.1 percentage points lower than among those who owned a home (59.6%).

The proportion of dual-income couples among first-marriage newlyweds was 57.2%, up 2.3 percentage points from the previous year. Their annual average income was 67.9 million KRW, an increase of 6.1% from the previous year. The income distribution by bracket was 50-70 million KRW (22.0%), 70 million to 100 million KRW (21.3%), and 30-50 million KRW (20.2%), in that order.

The average income of dual-income couples (84.33 million KRW) was about 1.7 times higher than that of single-income couples (49.94 million KRW), and couples who owned a home (75.91 million KRW) also had about 1.2 times higher income than those without a home (62.44 million KRW). The proportion of newlywed couples with loans was 89.0%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. The median loan balance was 164.17 million KRW, a 7.3% increase from 153 million KRW the previous year.

The main type of residence for first-marriage newlywed couples was apartments (72.4%), up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. The proportion of first-marriage newlywed couples who owned a home was 40.5%, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous year. The home ownership rate was 30.5% for couples in their first year of marriage and 50.6% for those in their fifth year, indicating that home ownership increases with the length of marriage.