"More Than Half of Men Seeking Divorce Counseling Are Over 60"... Surge in Divorce Counseling Among the Elderly

Family Law Counseling Center '2023 Consultation Statistics'
Oldest Male Client 87 · Female 86 Years Old

Recent survey results revealed a sharp increase in divorce consultations among seniors aged 60 and above.

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According to the '2023 Counseling Statistics' released on the 4th by the Korea Legal Counseling Center for Family (hereinafter referred to as the Counseling Center), divorce consultations among seniors aged 60 and above have surged steeply over the past 20 years. For women aged 60 and above, the rate rose from 6.2% in 2003 to 23.1% in 2023, an increase of 16.9 percentage points, while for men aged 60 and above, it jumped from 10.7% to 51.5% during the same period, a sharp rise of 40.8 percentage points. More than half of the men who underwent divorce consultations were aged 60 and above. When the Counseling Center began analyzing by age group in 1995, the proportion of those aged 60 and above was 1.2% for women and 2.8% for men. Over approximately 40 years, the proportion of those aged 60 has increased about 20 times for both men and women.

The aging trend seems to be reflected in divorce consultations as well, with the oldest clients being 87 years old for men and 86 years old for women. Among the reasons for divorce among seniors aged 60 and above, the highest rate for men was long-term separation. The second most common reason was the wife’s disappearance. For women, the most frequent reason was the husband’s violence. The second reason was long-term separation, and the third was the husband’s disappearance.

Last year, the Counseling Center conducted 55,684 consultations, of which 5,013 were divorce consultations through face-to-face interviews. When divided by gender, female clients numbered 4,011 (80.0%), about four times more than male clients at 1,002 (20.0%). Among men, divorce consultations were most common in their 60s, while among women, those in their 40s (32.0%) were the largest group.