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Marriages increased by nearly 15 percent last year, the highest increase in 54 years. The number of cases also increased by nearly 29,000 in a year, the largest increase in 27 years. The increase is attributed to the growing number of people in their early 30s.

According to the “2024 Marriage and Divorce Statistics” released by Statistics Korea on March 20, the number of marriages last year was 222,412, up 28,755 from a year earlier. The increase is the largest in 27 years since 1996 and the increase rate (14.8 percent) is the highest since the 1970 when related statistics were first compiled. In terms of number of cases, it was the highest in five years since 2019 (239,159).

The number of marriages had decreased for 11 consecutive years since 2012, falling below 200,000 in 2021 (192,507). It then hit a low of 191,690 in 2022 and rebounded in 2023 (193,657), and showed an increase for two consecutive years until last year.

Statistics Korea cited the current population of people in their early 30s where 700,000 were born every year, as the biggest reason for the increase in marriages. The number of people aged 30 to 34, who typically marry, rose to 3.43 million this year from 3.13 million in 2020. The number of people born in 1991 was 709,000, which was about 60,000 more than that in 1990, and the number remained in the 700,000 range until 1995, before decreasing to the 600,000 range from 1996.

In fact, the number of marriages by age increased the most year-on-year in the early 30s for both men and women. The marriage rate, which shows the number of marriages per 1,000 women aged 30 to 34, was 51.9 last year, up significantly from 42.7 in 2023. The marriage rate for men aged 30 to 34 was 48.3 last year, up from 40.1 the year before.

The increase was driven by the base effect of marriages that were conducted after being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Marriages were down 10.7 percent on-year in 2020 and 9.8 percent in 2021 during the pandemic.

The positive change in social perception of marriage also had an impact. According to the “Social Survey 2024” released by Statistics Korea last year, 52.5 percent of Koreans believe that marriage is necessary, up 2.5 percentage points from two years ago. In addition, policy effects such as special housing supply for newlyweds and marriage incentives from local governments may have partially contributed to the increase in the marriage rate.

“We need to see the situation, but we expect the increase to continue to some extent in the future,” said Park Hyun-jung, head of the Population Trends Division at Statistics Korea.

Last year, the average age of first marriage was 33.9 years for men and 31.6 years for women, down 0.1 years and up 0.1 years from the previous year, respectively. The age gap between married men and women narrowed to 2.3 years. Among first-time married couples, 19.9 percent were the couples where women were older than men, up 0.5 percentage points from a year ago, the highest ever.

Park said, "Men's first marriage age decreased for the second time since 1990 when related statistics were first compiled as the number of marriages in their early 30s increased significantly, and women’s first marriage age has continued to increase due to their engagement in economic activities and studies.”

The number of divorces last year was 91,000, down 1.3 percent from the previous year. The divorce rate was highest among men in their late 40s and women in their early 40s.



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