Unmarried Women Population in Late 20s Rises to 59.1%

The population of unmarried women in their 20s and 30s has grown rapidly in Korea, a government report showed Sunday, underpinning concerns that delaying marriage is contributing to the country's declining birthrate.

The share of unmarried women increased from 39.7 percent of total females aged 25 to 29 in 2000 to 59.1 percent in 2005, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO) report. The corresponding ratio for women aged 30 to 34 jumped from 10.5 percent to 19 percent in the same period.

Single women made up 4.1 percent of females between 35 and 39 in 2000 and grew to 7.6 percent in 2005, it added.

"The result shows that encouraging married women to have more babies alone cannot resolve the issue of the country's low birth rate," the report said.

Concerns have mounted that the falling birthrate will dent South Korea's growth potential in the coming decades.

The NSO said around 35,900 babies were born in July, down 5.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 17th consecutive on-year decline in childbirth.

According to the latest statistics released by the World Health Organization, South Korea had an average of 1.2 babies per woman of reproductive age, the lowest among 193 countries and below the OECD average of 1.73 babies.