Six out of 10 young Koreans think marriage unnecessary

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Six out of 10 young Koreans think it is unnecessary to get married and have children, a government survey showed Saturday.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family conducted the triennial poll on 7,100 people aged between 9 and 24 and 4,800 parental caregivers from November through February.

The survey showed that 60.9 percent of those aged between 13 and 24 said they did not think marriage was necessary, up from 49 percent tallied in the poll carried out in 2017.

Among them, 65.1 percent of female respondents agreed that marriage was unnecessary, while 57.1 percent of their male counterparts had the same opinion.

Also, 60.3 percent believed it was not necessary to have children after marriage, again up from 46.1 percent in 2017.

Among the parents and guardians, however, 59.7 percent said marriage was necessary, although 47.2 percent thought having children was not necessary after marriage.

The gender ministry said the survey showed young people have become more socially and financially pressured to get married and have children over the past three years.

The latest findings also showed that 83 percent of students in elementary, middle and high school said they were satisfied with their school life, down from the previous poll's 88.3 percent.

This was the first drop in a decade when the percentage rose from 82.1 percent in 2011 to 85.9 percent in 2014.

The ministry attributed the decrease in the satisfaction rate to the yearlong COVID-19 pandemic, which has expanded online classes and kept students at home. (Yonhap)

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