In April, the number of weddings in South Korea experienced its most significant monthly increase, while births saw an upward trend for the first time in 19 months.
The number of marriages in Korea reached 18,039 in April, up 24.6% from a year ago, according to Statistics Korea on June 26. This marks the most significant increase since 1981, when Statistics Korea began collecting marriage data for April. On a monthly basis, it has been the most substantial gain in five years and six months since October 2018. For the first time in 13 months, dating back to March of last year, marriages increased across all 17 provinces and cities in the country. Daejeon recorded the highest marriage growth rate at 44.1%, followed by Daegu (37.6%) and Ulsan (34.3%).
Experts attribute the rise in marriages to several factors, including reduced expectations for marriage preparation among individuals in their late twenties to early thirties, the implementation of a special gift tax exemption of 100 million won ($71,736) for newlyweds, and various marriage incentives provided by local governments in cities such as Daegu and Daejeon. Unlike Millennials (born in the early 1980s to early 1990s), who often postponed or gave up on marriage due to high housing costs and the burden of arranging a dowry, Gen Z (born in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s) prefers marriages that fit their circumstances.
From 2012 to 2022, marriages declined for 11 consecutive years until rebounding by 1% last year. This was driven by the “endemic marriage” boom, where many weddings were postponed due to social distancing measures caused by COVID-19. Even this year, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has eased, the number of marriages continues to grow, raising questions about whether the number of births will follow suit. In April, there were 19,049 births, a 2.8% increase compared to the same month last year, marking the first rise in 19 months since September 2022 (0.1%). Statistics Korea suggests that the increase in marriages due to the endemic impact from August 2022 to June of last year resulted in a delayed increase in the number of newborns.
