Only 2.9% of unmarried women consider marriage 'necessary'
A ward for newborns at a hospital in Seoul is almost empty in this photo taken in August 2016. Korea Times file
By Park Si-soo
Is this a grim indicator that the already sagging birth rate will sink further?
Only three out of 100 unmarried women in Seoul consider marriage necessary and merely 5.8 percent are willing to have children, a Korea Women's Development Institute survey showed.
The institute surveyed 411 unmarried women in Seoul and 413 in Beijing for a comparative analysis of the declining birth rates facing the two countries.
Among the Chinese women, 19.4 percent said marriage is necessary and 30.3 percent were willing to have children.
When those with a “positive” opinion of getting married are added, Seoul's marriage intention ratio jumped to 19.2 percent while Beijing's hit 40.9 percent.
South Korea's fertility rate plunged to a record low of 1.05 last year. China's rate is said to be 1.2-1.7, according to the
.
The top reason for being reluctant to get married was, in both countries, “difficulty in finding a suitable partner” (37.3 percent). In Seoul, next was “still too young to marry” (21.1 percent) and “male-oriented family system and culture” (18 percent).
In Beijing, the second most-cited reason was “an increase in the cost of living” (20.8 percent), followed by “difficulty in having a healthy work-life balance” (19.1 percent).
The two countries equally picked “high cost for child nurturing and education” as the primary reason for not having children (30.1 percent in Seoul and 29.7 percent in Beijing). Other major reasons for Seoul women include possible loss of time for relaxation and risk of having disadvantages at work.