SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- More South Korean young people saw marriage negatively amid the rising worry about a chronically low birth rate, statistical office data showed Friday.
Only 27.5 percent of women in their 20s considered marriage as necessary in 2022, sharply down from 52.9 percent tallied in 2008, according to Statistics Korea.
The figure for men in their 20s tumbled from 71.9 percent to 41.9 percent in the cited period.
Among those in their 30s, 31.8 percent of women and 48.7 percent of men were positive about getting married in 2022, down 19.7 percentage points and 21.0 percentage points each compared to the figures in 2008.
The younger generation picked economic difficulties and no need to get married as the reasons for being negative about marriage.
The negative perception of marriage boosted concerns about the chronically low birth rate.
The total fertility rate, or the number of children that a woman is expected to bear during her lifetime, hit a record low of 0.78 in 2022.
The number of babies born to the married women aged 30-34 had steadily been on the decline from 3.01 in 1974 to 1.78 in 1994 and 1.12 in 2021. ■
