Covid-19 sees marriage, births fall as divorce, death rises

Employees disinfect a wedding hall in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 19. Korea's number of marriages sharply declined in July due to the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. [NEWS1]

The number of newlyweds in Korea has been on the decline as the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic forces couples to postpone wedding plans and limits dating.

Statistics Korea reported Wednesday that some 126,367 couples tied the knot between January and July, a 9.3 percent drop compared to the same period a year earlier. It marks the lowest number of marriages for any January to July period since the statistics agency started compiling data in 1981.

In July alone, 17,080 couples married, a 10.9 percent decline compared to same month a year before.

“The number of marriages has been shrinking as the number of women in their 30s, the age bracket when most people get married, are declining,” a spokesperson for Statistics Korea said. “More couples postponing their weddings due to Covid-19 pandemic is also affecting the national marriage rate.”

The number of divorces, on the other hand, increased by 3.1 percent on year to reach 9,787 in July.

The data from Statistics Korea also showed that 165,730 babies were born between January to July, a 9.8 percent decline compared to the same period last year.

Some 23,067 babies were born in July, compared to 25,222 tallied in the same month in 2019. It marks the lowest number of newborns for any July since the the statistics agency started collecting monthly data in 1981.

The number of deaths between January and July reached 176,363, a 3.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Some 23,963 people died in July, a 3.2 percent increase compared to the same month a year earlier and the highest figure since the statistics agency started collecting data in 1983.

Korea's total population fell by 10,633 over the January to July period.

BY CHEA SARAH [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]