Young Koreans favoring double income, no kids lifestyle

[SHUTTERSTOCK]

Young Koreans are increasingly opting not to have kids due to the high cost of parenting and changing personal values.

They are pursuing the so-called "DINK" (double income, no kids) lifestyle, according to a recent survey by Shinhan Life Insurances.

Of the 700 singles and childless couples aged between 25 and 39 surveyed in March and April, 34.3 percent said they do not plan on having kids in the future.

Of the women and men between the ages 25 and 29, 52.2 percent of women and 19.8 percent of men said they were considering a child-free life.

Going further into detail, 26.1 percent of women said they are thinking of not raising children regardless of their marital status, and another 26.1 percent said they are thinking of having a child-free marriage.

Of the 19.8 percent of men, 13.5 didn't want children while 6.3 said they wished to live only with their partner.

The gap between the two genders narrowed in the older age groups. Between 30 and 34, 39.3 percent of women and 20 percent of men wanted a child-free life. Between 35 and 39, 44.4 percent of women and 32.2 percent of men responded the same.

The percentage of men hoping for a DINK lifestyle spiked among those in their late 30s. Five percent of men in their early 30s wanted to be part of a childless couples, which jumped threefold to 14.8 percent for those in their late 30s.

"My kid may move out late just like myself, but I don't have the confidence to be economically active in my 70s," a 39-year-old woman told the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Statistics attest to such inclination toward the DINK lifestyle.

Of surveyed newlyweds that had been married for less than five years in 2016, 36.6 percent had no kids, according to Statistics Korea. That figure grew to 45.8 percent in 2021.

Women were more keen to find a balance between their career and parenting than men were. When asked about the cause of low birth rates, 47.5 percent of men blamed the high cost of parenting and education as the top reason, while 59.6 percent of women pointed to the social atmosphere that makes juggling work and childcare difficult for women.

“Women employees who go on parental leave tend to stay in lower positions,” a 28-year-old woman to the JoongAng Ilbo. “It’s bitter to see them turn down lead positions because they are stressed out from trying to have a career that runs parallel with parenting."

“I believe I had a happy childhood on the back of my mother’s career break, but I don’t have the heart to endure that myself,” she added.

More women were opting out of marriage than men, with 52.6 percent of women in their late 20s saying they plan on living alone. Twenty-one-point-six percent of men said the same.

Both groups thought the rising cost of property and married life were the main reasons for the low marriage rate, followed by reasons such as the change in perception of marriage, emphasis on personal freedom and gender conflicts.

BY KIM KYUNG-HEE, SEO JI-WON [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]