By You Soo-sun
Analysis shows Koreans are increasingly associating marriage with negative keywords on social media platforms. And while marriage is more often described as a subject of despair and pain, staying single is viewed in a favorable light, according to a report released by a data analysis company Nielsen Korea, Thursday.
Using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the company analyzed keywords that were commonly mentioned alongside marriage between 2014 and 2017. Although related terms for marriage were not all negative, the trend clearly suggests that the perception of marriage is quickly deteriorating.
The term “divorce” ranked third on the list of the most cited words this year, a sharp rise from 28th in 2015 and ninth in 2016. More people viewed marriage as being “difficult.” In 2015, it ranked 35th in the number of times related words were used ― it grew in number to take 9th place in 2016 and 8th in 2017 so far. Other words commonly associated with marriage included “pain,” and “concerned,” tallied at 30,796, and 27,135 times respectively.
By contrast, words conveying a brighter message about marriage had dropped in rank. The word “happy,” for example dropped in rank from third to seventh from 2016 to 2017.
Related keywords also provided insight into the causes of its declining popularity. “Unfair,” “loss,” and “feminist” were among the frequently cited words. These appeared 6,725, 2,841, and 2,340 times respectively. Also often discussed were the social responsibilities and obligations people see following marriage.
On the other hand, more express interest and appreciation in the idea of not getting married at all. Related keywords for “unmarried” were analyzed separately between January and May this year and linked with words such as “respectful,” “smart,” and “reasonable.” All of these outnumbered the words conveying pessimistic attitudes toward staying single, such as “worrisome,” “serious,” and “selfish.”
These results are in line with official statistics and survey reports published over the years. A report by Statistics Korea shows that 51.4 percent of respondents aged between 13 and 24 said marriage is not mandatory in 2016, up from 44.4 percent in 2014. The birthrate stands at less than 1.2, with the number of newborn babies dropping to a record low last year.