Study: Young Koreans feel fear and anxiety about marriage and childbirth

According to a new study, South Korea's younger generation is undergoing a profound change in their views on marriage and childbearing. These traditionally anticipated life stages are now seen as more of a cause of fear, sadness and anxiety, with only 9.3% reporting happiness.

The Korea Peninsula Future Population Research Institute (KPPIF) analyzed about 50,000 posts on the workplace social platform Blind between December 2017 and November 2024, and found that two-thirds of marriage-related discussions revealed feelings of "sadness," "fear," or "disgust," the Korea Herald reported. Among them, "sadness" accounted for 32.3%, "fear" accounted for 24.6%, and "disgust" accounted for 10.2%. In contrast, only 9.3% of posts expressed feeling "happy."

Similar negative feelings can be found in the topics of fertility and parenting. According to the data, more than 60% of childbirth-related posts expressed "disgust" (23.8%), "fear" (21.3%) and "sadness" (15.3%). Nearly 70 percent of posts on parenting were filled with negative emotions.

This is despite the fact that the South Korean government has adopted a number of policies to try to stem the trend of declining fertility. The report notes that family life still carries a negative image in the minds of many South Koreans. This phenomenon reflects deeper socioeconomic issues, including financial stress, housing burden, workplace environments, and inadequate parenting support.

The study also found that the word "money" appeared nearly 30 percent of the time in marriage-related posts, compared with 13.2 percent in childbearing posts. About 60% of the posts on marriage focused on "marriage preparation conditions", and nearly 20% of the posts on fertility mentioned "economic support for childbirth".

Although South Korea's fertility rate has been declining for a long time, the data in 2024 showed the first recovery in nine years. The total fertility rate of South Korean women is estimated at 0.75, slightly higher than 0.72 in 2023. However, the research institute warned that this rebound may only be a short-term phenomenon caused by the post-epidemic base effect, and it is difficult to say that the trend will continue.

Yoo Hye-jeong, director of the KPPIF Population Research Center, stressed that the government should introduce stronger policy measures to help the younger generation reduce the financial burden and promote the balance between work and family life to consolidate the momentum of the fertility rate recovery.

A survey by the government's Office for Policy Coordination also shows that the younger generation has negative attitudes toward marriage and childbearing. In a survey of 15,000 people aged 19 to 34, 63.1 per cent said they were willing to get married last year, down 12 percentage points from two years earlier; The rate of intended births fell to 59.3 percent, down 4 percentage points from two years ago.