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Rise of single-person households transforms Seoul’s family landscape
A view of Seoul from the observation deck of Lotte World Tower in Songpa District, Aug. 17. Yonhap
By Park Ung
Single-person households and households consisting of older people are on the rise in Seoul, while the number of families with young children is shrinking, reshaping the capital’s family landscape.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday released a study analyzing shifts in marriage and divorce, family values and household structures, drawing on government data, including figures from Statistics Korea.
As of last year, single-person households were the most common in Seoul, totaling around 1.66 million, or 40 percent of the total. Two-person households made up 26 percent, followed by four-person households at 12 percent.
In July, Seoul became a “super-aged society,” with more than 20 percent of its population age 60 or older. Additionally, more than 30 percent of households had at least one member 65 or older.
In contrast, households with children and single-parent households have been declining. In Seoul, households with children aged 5 or younger fell from about 350,000 in 2016 to 200,000 in 2024, a drop of more than 40 percent.
Over the same period, the number of children 5 or younger fell from about 440,000 to 240,000, reflecting Korea’s persistently low fertility rate.
The country’s total fertility rate inched up to 0.75 last year, while Seoul’s stood at 0.58. Both remain far below the OECD average of 1.51 from 2022.
Single-parent households also declined, from about 320,000 in 2016 to 280,000 in 2024. Among them, nearly 70 percent were mothers with unmarried children, while around 16 percent were fathers with unmarried children.
Marriages, which had been declining since reaching nearly 79,000 in 2000, dropped to a low of under 36,000 in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic but have since rebounded.
Last year, marriages rose to just over 42,400, up 17 percent from the previous year. The average age at first marriage rose to 34.3 for men and 32.4 for women.
International marriages accounted for about 10 percent of all unions in Seoul in 2024, at just over 4,000. Of these, around 2,600 were between Korean men and foreign women, and nearly 1,400 were between foreign men and Korean women.
Divorces overall have been declining. After peaking at just over 32,400 cases in 2003, the number fell steadily to just over 12,100 last year. Meanwhile, the average age at divorce has risen, reaching 51.9 for men and 49.4 for women in 2024. That is more than a decade older than in 2000, when the averages were 41 and 37.
Late-life divorces have surged, climbing from around 3 percent of all cases in 2000 to nearly 25 percent in 2024.