SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of newlyweds in South Korea stayed below 1 million for the second straight year amid the changing social trend, statistical ministry data showed Friday.
There were 952,026 newly married couples in 2024, down 2.3 percent from 974,452 newlyweds in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The newlyweds refer to couples who had been married for five years or less as of Nov. 1 last year and at least one of whom resided in South Korea
The figure had been on the decline since relevant data began to be compiled in 2015.
The downward trend was attributable to the changing social trend, such as later marriage and non-marriage caused by soaring housing prices, job market instability and burden of childbirth and rearing.
Of the first-time newlyweds, 51.2 percent had children in 2024, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
The proportion of dual-income couples to the first-time newlyweds reached 59.7 percent in 2024, up 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.
The annual average income of the first-time newlyweds grew 5.0 percent over the year to 76.29 million won (51,770 U.S. dollars) in 2024. ■
