A study on Korean society revealed that 42.8 per cent of Koreans believe it is acceptable to have children without marriage. AFP/VNA Photo

SEOUL - A growing number of young South Koreans are challenging conventional views on marriage and parenthood, with two out of five people in their 20s expressing support for having children without getting married, a recent government study showed on Sunday.

Statistics Korea’s annual study on Korean society revealed that 42.8 per cent of Koreans believe it is acceptable to have children without marriage, marking a significant shift from a decade ago when only 30.3 per cent held this view.

Support for having kids without marrying has also intensified, as the proportion of respondents in favour nearly tripled from 5.7 per cent in 2014 to 14.2 per cent in 2024. Conversely, opposition has waned, with those strongly against marriage dropping from 34.9 per cent to 22.2 per cent over the same period.

This changing perception is reflected in fertility trends. In 2023, a record 10,900 babies - 4.7 per cent of all childbirths - were born outside marriage, 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous year and the highest figure since records began to be kept in 1981.

The number of babies born to a parent who is single has been rising each year, with 6,900 in 2020, 7,700 in 2021, and 9,800 in 2022, most likely due to more couples not marrying or simply living together.

However, while societal attitudes toward having children without getting married are evolving rapidly, policy support has not kept up the pace.

Most childbirth and child care support policies in South Korea are designed around the framework of “married couples”, leaving children born to single parents or unmarried couples at risk of facing discrimination or falling into policy blind spots.

For instance, while the government’s Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee unveiled comprehensive measures in June and July this year to tackle declining birth rates, such as addressing work-life balance, child care and housing, it failed to include provisions for supporting births to single or unmarried parents.

Experts argue that creating institutional support systems for having kids regardless of marital status could be a solution to South Korea’s low birth rate crisis.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the proportion of children born outside marriage in 2020 was significantly higher in countries like France at 62.2 per cent, the United Kingdom at 49 per cent, and the United States at 41.2 per cent compared to South Korea. THE KOREA HERALD/ANN