High costs discourage young Koreans from getting married

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Wed, December 6, 2023 | 20:04

Society

High costs discourage young Koreans from getting married

Posted : 2023-08-29 16:59

Updated : 2023-08-30 14:21

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By Lee Hae-rin

Kim Myung-jin, 31, an office worker who has set a date to get married next year, got a rude shock on more than one occasion upon learning how expensive wedding-related services are in Korea as she began preparing for the big day.

"The scale of costs came to me as surprisingly high. Costs of services start from some millions and can go up to tens of millions won and that's just how it seems to go here (in the wedding market)," Kim told The Korea Times, adding that such a large sum of money doesn't even feel real yet and that she understands other couples' choice to either simplify their plans or altogether give up on having a wedding due to economic reasons.

Jeon Sang-a, another 31-year-old office worker who settled in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, after getting married last September, echoed Kim's view on the economic burden of marriage. She and her husband did everything within their capacity to raise wedding money, using up years-long savings, getting help from parents, running a joint bank account for wedding expenses and buying household goods in installments.

"The moment we decided to get married, we realized everything ― the ceremony, housing and home furnishings ― is about money, and it's quite a lot. The financial burden is real for every couple, apart from how much they love each other," Jeon said.

Kim and Jeon's stories explain the latest report by Statistics Korea that only about one out of three young Koreans have a positive perception of marriage, and one out of three unmarried Koreans cite a lack of money as a reason for not getting married.

Other statistics also show that wedding costs in Korea are particularly high.

As of last year, a wedding in Korea cost around 47.2 million won ($35,709), according to local matchmaking agency Duo's survey of 1,000 newlywed people. The figure included expenses for home furnishings (14.7 million won), venue hire (9.7 million won), wedding presents exchanged between families (7.17 million won), honeymoon (3.97 million won) and wedding package consisting of photo shoot, dress rental, hair styling and make-up (3 million won).

It is more expensive than those of other countries like the U.K. ($23,236), according to their country's national wedding survey, and the U.S. ($30,000), according to wedding planning website, The Knot.

However, the actual funds Korean couples feel they need for marriage is much higher ― around 287 million won ― as the expense of getting married here conventionally includes housing costs.

Housing, taking the largest portion of wedding expenses at 83.6 percent, stands at around 240 million won in average, the survey said. The figure differs by region, from 134 million won in Gangwon Province to around 324 million won in Seoul.

Naturally, an overwhelming 92.7 percent of the survey's respondents positively viewed holding a small wedding, citing "cost reduction" as the main reason. The survey estimates a small wedding, with fewer guests and conventional ceremonial elements omitted, to cost around 6.29 million won, which is around two thirds of the average expense.

However, even that option is less viable for many than it may seem.

Some 35 percent of the survey's respondents said they can't simplify their wedding plans due to their parents' expectations. Other top reasons were society's conventional wedding customs (31.2 percent), a couple's willingness to follow social norms and procedures (18.7 percent) and concerns over how others will think of them (13 percent).

lhr@koreatimes.co.kr