South korea population crisis: The ratio of those who consider marriage mandatory in South Korea increased last year. In a government report, it has been claimed that 52.5 percent of the age of 13 and above in 2024 saw marriage as a need. This figure reflects an increase of 2.5 percentage points in the last two years, while since 2010 this figure was on a steady decline except a brief surge in 2020.

Not only this, it was also mentioned in the report that 68.4 percent of the respondents said that it is necessary to have children after marriage. This figure shows an increase of 3.1 percentage points in the last two years. This change has happened at a time when South Korea is facing a crisis of population reduction and the government has planned many measures to deal with this crisis.

222,422 couples married in 2023, increased by 14.9%

Last year, 222,422 couples got married, which is 14.9 percent more than last year. According to the report, this is the fastest annual increase since it started collecting data in 1981. Along with this, the number of newborns also increased in 2024. The total fertility rate which shows the number of average children in a woman’s lifetime also improved and it increased to 0.75, which was 0.72 last year.

South Korea’s fertility rate lowest

According to the statistics of Korea, a total of 238,300 children were born in 2024, which is 3.6 percent higher than a record low of 230,000 in 2023. However, South Korea’s fertility rate is still the lowest in the world and is about half of the average of the Economic Cooperation and Development Organization (OECD) member countries. Since 2018, this country is the only member of OECD whose rate is less than 1. However, by 2030, the government aims to increase it to 1, which is very important to maintain a stable population without migration.