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Kyodo

Dressed in a white wedding dress, Kang Dasom flashes a radiant smile at the camera.
“Wearing this has always been my dream,” Kang, 30, says in a photo studio in Seoul in South Korea, her voice bubbling over with enthusiasm.
But the “partner” she is gazing fondly at beside her is not her husband-to-be, but instead her six-year-old dog.
Kang is one of many young people today in South Korea who have chosen an unmarried lifestyle, believing that marriage is too much of a financial burden.
I think we’re in an age where the emphasis is on the happiness of the individual
Kang Dasom, who had ‘wedding’ photos taken with her pet dog
She believes that taking photos with her pet dog Kkong Kkong, who is also glamorously attired for the occasion, will give her confidence as she walks down the aisle of life by herself.
“I won’t become anyone’s wife or mother. But I pledge to become happy,” Kang says.

Not only are many young people not marrying out of choice in South Korea, the birth rate has declined significantly over the Past 10 years.
According to a survey by the South Korean National Statistical Office, as of November 2023, 51 per cent of people in their thirties were unmarried, around four times the rate in 2000. In the capital, Seoul, the ratio is above 60 per cent.
Economic uncertainty is often cited as a reason for hesitancy to marry. It is common for people to buy a new home when they get married, but real estate prices, especially in the Seoul metropolitan area, have been soaring.
South Korea’s total fertility rate, which indicates the number of children a woman has during her lifetime, was above four until the early 1970s, but fell to 0.72 in 2023.
In 2024, the rate increased slightly for the first time in nine years, to 0.75, but it remains the lowest in the world, much lower than Japan’s record low of 1.20 in 2023.

Kang, who lives in Seoul, had envisioned a future of marriage and children until about five years ago.
Then she faced the stark reality of funding a wedding ceremony and buying a home, among other constraints. The average South Korean wedding is said to cost 300 million won (US$200,000), meaning many newlyweds start out married life heavily in debt.
Kang also has a dream of becoming a successful dancer and has come to believe that “remaining single is the way to go” to achieve her goal.
“I think we’re in an age where the emphasis is not on the family unit but the happiness of the individual,” she says.

Indeed, as Kang says, the values among the young generation are changing in South Korea.
The trend against marrying began to gain acceptance around 2016. This new way of life has taken root as women seek liberation from a male-dominated patriarchal system.
Some companies have even begun offering an “unmarried allowance” to eliminate the perceived inequality of monetary wedding gifts that are paid to employees who marry.
Jeong Ji-hyun, 32, a company employee, held a “non-marriage ceremony” for herself in 2023. She chose a grey trouser suit that matches her short hair.
Marriage is a package holiday deal with options you don’t want
Jeong Ji-hyun, who had a ‘non-wedding’ ceremony for 40 guests
In front of about 40 invited guests at a restaurant, Jeong declared: “I promise to love myself forever.”
Yearning for the newlywed experience of being blessed at a ceremony without the actual nuptials, she says: “I expressed my heartfelt wish that [the guests] support me.”
Jeong feels suffocated by the traditional family structure rooted in Confucian values, emphasising hierarchical relationships, filial piety and the importance of family lineage.
The burden of housework and child care still falls disproportionately on women, and she has witnessed female friends give up their careers because of the wage gap, with women earning substantially less than men, particularly among married couples.
“Marriage is a package holiday deal with options you don’t want,” Jeong says, biting her lip.

South Korea is facing major challenges as it tries to get young people to move back towards marriage and childbearing.
Urgency in addressing gender discrimination and economic insecurity is a key factor in the fight against declining birth rates, but little progress has been made.
South Korea is the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) club of developed economies with a total fertility rate below one.
I think South Korea may disappear with our generation
Jeong Ji-hyun
In 2024, the number of babies born in South Korea fell 7.7 per cent from the previous year to about 230,000, roughly half of what it was a decade earlier.
The total population is declining at an accelerating rate, and many experts are talking about the danger of the country’s “disappearance”. At the same time, its population is ageing, and its distorted demographic structure is making it more difficult to see a promising future.
The words heard from unmarried young people, like Jeong, who bear the brunt of criticism for the country’s rapidly declining population, are tinged with irony.
“I think South Korea may disappear with our generation,” she says.


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Weddings

A woman at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. Economic uncertainty is often cited as a reason for hesitancy to marry. Photo: Getty Images

A woman at Naejangsan National Park in South Korea. South Korean women are choosing to stay single over getting married. Photo: Getty Images

Many young people today in South Korea have chosen an unmarried lifestyle. Photo: Getty Images

 The average South Korean wedding is said to cost US$200,000. Photo: Shutterstock

“The emphasis is not on family but the happiness of the individual,” says one Korean woman to explain why she and many other women choose not to marry. Photo: Getty Images

Fathers hold their babies at a hospital in Goyang, near Seoul, South Korea in 2025. Birth rates are falling in the country. Photo: EPA

Most young people in Korea view marriage and childbirth with mix of sadness, fear, disgust

A bride leans on a pillar before a mass wedding ceremony organised by the Unification Church at Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea, on February 7, 2020. A new study of young Koreans’ internet posts found that 67.1 percent of marriage-related posts reflected negative sentiment. Photo: AFP

Couples walk along a street in the Sinchon area of Seoul. Photo: AFP

In 2024, South Korea’s total fertility rate rose for the first time in nine years. Photo: AFP

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Foreign domestic workers enjoy a picnic in Singapore. Many Asian women are driven by poverty to seek work abroad as domestic helpers. A lot of them end up in Singapore or Hong Kong. South Korea could soon be another hotspot. File photo: AFP

A family takes a photo in Seoul, South Korea. Will families there be willing to employ foreign domestic workers to help care for their children? File photo: AP

Beauty beyond borders: the rise and rise of South Korea’s plastic surgery empire

A South Korean woman walking past a street billboard advertising double-jaw surgery at a subway station in Seoul. Photo: AFP

Actresses Jang Yoon-ju (left) and Jeon Jong-seo are featured on an ad on Gangnam Unni, South Korea’s leading beauty and medical information platform. Photo: Handout

A woman consults a surgeon at a plastic surgery clinic before undergoing nose plastic surgery in 2020. Photo: Reuters

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Anna Oh and a surgeon in a clinic in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Anna Oh

A sign in downtown Seoul on a modern building advertising life plastic surgery. Photo: Shutterstock

The 15 best romantic K-dramas of all time, from Crash Landing on You and My Love from the Star to Secret Garden and Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Hyun Bin and Ha Ji-won in a still from “Secret Garden”. Photo: SBS

Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin in a still from “Crash Landing on You” (2019). There have been many romantic K-drama classics over the years. We rank our 15 best ever. Photo: TvN

Lifestyle

Family & Relationships

News

Asia

East Asia

A US$200,000 wedding ceremony? In this economy? South Korean women choose to stay single, some even staging self-weddings with their pets


A US$200,000 wedding ceremony? In this economy? South Korean women choose to stay single, some even staging self-weddings with their pets.


South Korea

Women and gender