Single men in Korea outnumber single women by 19.6 percent: Report

[JOONGANG ILBO]

There are nearly 20 percent more single men than single women in Korea, according to a Monday report from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (Kihasa), matching a historical preference for sons.

The number of single men in 2021 exceeded the number of single women by 19.6 percent, according to Kihasa's latest Issue and Focus report. Even if all available men and women were paired, a surplus of single men would remain, supposedly making it more difficult for men to find partners based on demographics.

The imbalance is even greater in suburban areas compared to metropolitan regions. In North Gyeongsang, South Gyeongsang and North Chungcheong, the surplus of single men exceeded single women by more than 30 percent — 34.9 percent, 33.2 percent, and 31.7 percent, respectively. In contrast, Seoul and Busan had lower rates, of 2.5 percent and 16.2 percent more single men than women, respectively.

A disparity in marriage rates also aligns with the gap in the number of unmarried men and women, according to the report. In 2020, 46.5 percent of men born in 1985 were unmarried, 29.1 percent higher than the rate for women of the same age, according to the report.

Kihasa attributes the imbalance to a prolonged period of more male births than female births. Since the 1970s, the sex ratio at birth in Korea has exceeded the natural ratio — 104 to 107 boys for every 100 girls.

The trend peaked in the late 1980s to mid-1990s but returned to the natural range after 2007. An imbalance in marriage rates emerged in the early 1990s and deepened after the mid-2000s, the report said.

The increase of male births can be linked to a historical preference for sons, a decline in birth rates driven by gender selection preferences and advancements in technology, such as ultrasound, that facilitate gender selection, according to the report.

The report also emphasized that the prolonged period of a skewed sex ratio at birth since the 1970s has had a significant impact on marriage rates. Regions with high marriage rate imbalances are characterized by particularly skewed sex ratios at birth during the 1980s and 1990s.

BY KIM JI-HYE, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]