The typical K-drama romance ends in marriage and, sometimes, starting a family. Traditionally, the former has been seen as a prerequisite for the latter.
But South Korea’s government wants more people to see that it’s OK to skip a step.
Local media reported this week that a recent study commissioned by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy and conducted by the Korea Women’s Development Institute showed that between 2008 and 2024, among both men and women in their 20s and 30s, there have been significantly increasing approval rates for childbirth out of wedlock.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Support for childbirth out of wedlock among women in their 20s rose from 28.4% in 2008 to 42.4% last year. For women in their 30s, it rose from 23.9% to 40.7% during the same period. A similar trend appeared for men: in 2008, 32.4% of those in their 20s and 28.7% of those in their 30s approved of childbirth out of wedlock, while 43.1% and 43.3% of the respective male age groups approved in 2024.
The government clearly welcomes the shedding of what was once a stigma, as it struggles to boost its fertility rate, which rose for the first time in nine years last year but remains the lowest in the world at 0.75 children per woman.
Why fertility rate matters
South Korea is not alone in Asia or the world when it comes to an aging population, but by the end of 2024 the East Asian nation of 51 million became a “super-aged” society after 20% of its population became 65 years old and above.
In order to “replace” a population throughout generations without immigration, a country needs a fertility rate of 2.1. Consistently lower fertility rates can result in a smaller workforce, slow economic growth, and strain social security and pension systems. To help keep the economy afloat, many of South Korea’s elderly continue to work.
What South Korea has done to try to boost births
Over the years, particularly under since-impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea has thrown everything it can at its demographic crisis, from cash incentives to increasing parental leaves and benefits to even considering military conscription exemptions for parents.
Yoon, a pronatalist who blamed feminism for the low fertility rate, declared in June 2024 a “demographic national emergency” and unveiled a slew of policies aimed at enticing families to have children, given concerns about high costs of living. The plans also included a new Ministry of Population Strategy and Planning tasked with crafting the policies, though it did not materialize before his ouster.
How marriage relates—and doesn’t—to birth rates
South Korea’s marriage rate actually increased in 2024, with 14.8% more couples wedded compared to the year before. But that doesn’t necessarily mean more children will be born, as women, trends show, are opting to have fewer children whether they are married or not.
Population experts have said that pushing couples to marry may not be the solution to reverse low fertility that so many policymakers assume; rather, escaping what experts have called the “low-fertility trap” may require broader changes to societal norms. For South Korea, the traditional family structure could be one such norm.
Why perceptions are changing
Childbirth out of wedlock is still relatively rare in South Korea. Some 4.7% of babies born in 2023 were born to women who were not married or in a civil partnership, and while that figure has been on an uptrend since 2018, it is significantly below the average of 42% in developed countries (members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD).
Deeply ingrained prejudices against South Korean women who have babies outside of marriage have contributed to the low figure. The word horojasik is sometimes used to insult a child born out of wedlock.
“It is just desired tradition/belief with inherited Confucian culture mostly on the female duty and role,” says Youngmi Kim, a senior lecturer of Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
But these perceptions are changing, especially after Yoon’s administration introduced several welfare policies catering to single parents as part of his bid to boost birthrates. Greater visibility, including celebrities having children out of wedlock, has also contributed to the shift.
The Presidential Committee released on May 20 a study on public awareness of South Korea’s population problem, as well as perceptions on marriage and childbirth. The study, conducted last March, noted that unmarried individuals are increasingly willing to have kids. Joo Hyung-hwan, who is vice chair of the committee, said in a press release that the latest statistics from the country have been “encouraging,” but added that the committee “will provide support to all those who want a child by improving the discriminatory factors and institutional deficiencies of non-marital births.”
The Yoon Administration recognized that South Korea’s fertility-boosting policies needed to be more inclusive of those who had or wanted children but did not wish to marry. But as South Korea heads for a snap election for a new leader in June, leading presidential candidates appear focused on policies such as housing support for newlyweds.
