Fewer weddings overall, with remarriages on the rise

Posted on : 2011-01-26 13:39 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Women outpace men in remarraiges, in what some call a small step toward recognized equality

Jung Se-ra, Staff Writer
  
Remarriage by women has shown a higher rate of increase than remarriage by men, according to one study. The study also found that there are already more couples in which a man on his first marriage is married to a woman who has been married before than the inverse, and that the rate of increase is far greater than for the reverse case.
According to marriage statistics released Tuesday by Statistics Korea, the percentage of total marriages in which neither partner has been married before fell from 89.3 percent in 1990 to 76.5 percent in 2009, while the percentage of total marriages in which both partners have been married before rose from 4.7 percent to 12.8 percent.
In 1990, the total number of remarriages by men stood at 33,348, accounting for 8.4 percent of all marriages. In 2009, the number was 53,770, accounting for 17.4 percent of all marriages.
Among women, the total number of remarriages stood at 28,153 in 1990, accounting for 7.1 percent of all marriages. In 2009, the total was 58,825, or 19 percent, indicating a faster rate of increase. Remarriages by women outstripped remarriages by men in terms of both the number of cases and the rate of increase.
The fact that marriages between a never-married male and a previously married female increased over the reverse case is indicative of a change in social perceptions, including women’s improved social status and the spread of a culture of gender equality.
The percentage among all marriages of couples in which the female has never been married and the male has been previously married rose slightly from 3.6 percent in 1990 to 4.5 percent in 2009. In contrast, the percentage of couples in which the male has never been married and the female has been previously married showed a nearly threefold rate of increase, from 2.3 percent to 6.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the rate of all marriages in South Korea was found to be steadily decreasing due to the late marriage phenomenon and changing perceptions of marriage. The total number of marriages fell from 399,312 in 1990 to 309,759 in 2009.
  
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