Friday, March 22, 2002
South Korean divorces on the rise
A story published today by the Korean Herald reports that South Korea has recorded its lowest marriage and highest divorce rates in more than three decades last year, reflecting rising individualism and a shift in priorities from marriage toward academic achievements and careers.
The crude marriage rate (CMR), which shows the number of married couples out of every 1,000 persons, declined to 6.7 last year from 7.0 in 2000, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said yesterday.
The number of couples getting married last year totaled 320,000, down from 334,000 in 2000 and 363,000 in 1999, showing 877 couples married every day last year.
The country also has experienced a drastic increase in the number of divorced couples over the past decades with the crude divorce rate (CDR) soaring to 2.8 in 2001 from 2.5 in 2000.
The number represents the highest figure since the government began tracking the CDR in 1970, when it stood at 0.4
The NSO statistics show that 135,000 couples divorced last year, up from 120,000 in 2000 and more than an 11-fold increase from 12,000 in 1970.
The number shows that 370 couples divorced every day in 2001, up from 329 couples who divorced every day in 2000.
The NSO attributes the soaring CDR to rising egoism and economic development which enable those in their late 20s, considered the optimum age for marriage, to live alone or delay marriage.
The average marrying age for the first marriages was 29.6 for men and 26.8 for women in 2001, up from 29.3 and 26.5, respectively, in 2000.
The average divorce age was 40.2 for men and 36.7 for women in 2001, up from 36.8 and 32.7, respectively, in 1990.
Nearly three quarters (74.0 percent) of the 135,000 divorces in 2001 cited domestic quarrels as the main reason for divorce.
Economic and health problems were also responsible for 11.6 percent and 0.7 percent of the divorces in 2001 respectively.
The divorce rate caused by economic problems has sharply risen to 11.6 percent in 2001 from 2.0 percent in 1990.
