Only 1 in 2 Adults Consider "Marriage"... Only 28% Say They Will "Have Children"

Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs Survey of 2,000 Adults

About half of domestic adults expressed an intention to get married. Even fewer adults were considering having children, with less than half indicating such plans. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs from August 8 to 25 last year, targeting 2,000 men and women nationwide aged 19 to 49.

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According to the survey, among the 1,059 respondents who were not currently in a legal marriage, 51.7% answered that they intended to get married. Meanwhile, 24.5% responded that they had no intention of marrying, and 19.1% said they had not yet decided about marriage.

By gender, men (56.3%) showed a higher intention to marry than women (47.2%). By age group, the percentage of respondents intending to marry gradually increased from their 20s to 30s, peaking at ages 30 to 34 (58.7%), before showing a declining trend.

Among respondents currently cohabiting or in common-law relationships, 71.5% expressed an intention to marry, whereas only 26.9% of so-called "dolsing" (divorced or separated individuals living alone) had plans to marry again.

When all survey participants were asked about having children, the largest group (46.0%) answered that they did not intend to have children. Those who said they would have children accounted for 28.3%.

Among married individuals without children (including cohabiting, common-law, and legally married), the responses were highest for "intend to have children" (46.5%), followed by "undecided" (26.4%), and "do not intend to have children" (24.7%).

For married individuals with one or more children, the majority (76.1%) responded that they did not plan to have more children. Only 9.0% said they intended to have more children.

The leading cause of the low birthrate phenomenon was identified as "a structure that makes it difficult to balance work and childcare," scoring 8.72 points. In contrast, only 22.0% of all survey respondents were aware of work-family balance policies, including reduced working hours during childcare periods, parental leave, and flexible work arrangements.

Researcher So-Young Lee of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs emphasized, "To increase public utilization of policies and influence decisions on marriage and childbirth, active promotion and education are necessary. Continuous surveys must also be conducted to develop policies that reflect the perspectives of the citizens who are the policy users."