Concept of marriage is changing
Getting married at this age means I just follow my heart, and I feel very comfortable not having to care about other peoples expectations, Jung So-won, 41, told The Straits Times.
Jung gave up his job as a director of a medical clinic to study social work. She is one of the growing number of Korean women who are delaying marriage until they are over 40, amid changing social norms and attitudes about marriage.
Data released by Statistics Korea (Kostat) in March this year showed that the number of brides in their early 40s was higher than that of brides in their early 20s in both 2021 and 2022, reversing the trend that has been around since 1990, when the agency began collecting data.
Of the 192,000 registered marriages in 2022, 10,949 were with brides aged 40 to 44 and 10,113 were with brides aged 20 to 24. In 2021, the figures were 10,412 and 9,985, respectively.
The number of women married in their 20s decreased by 93% between 1997 and 2022, while this number in women in their 40s increased by 50% compared to the same period.
Research published by Kostat in 2022 shows that 35.1% of respondents in their early 20s feel marriage is necessary, while 42.3% of people in their 40s feel the same.
Jung So-won also focused on his career in his 20s. In her 30s, she began to seriously think about marriage. She joined a matchmaking unit to meet people who had serious thoughts about marriage but had no results.
As soon as she intended to give up, Jung So-won met her man - a 45-year-old businessman - at a club in April 2022 while she was partying with friends. Within a month, he proposed to me, she recalled.
According to Kim Hyun-jung, a spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Party of South Korea, late marriage is no longer a ban on marriage.
Now, the average age of marriage is higher and there are many golden girls - he said on MBN channel, referring to women who are still single in their old age.
weddings also take place in their 40s with famous Korean people. Actress Jang Na-ra, 42, and Gong Hyo-jin, 43, got married in 2022. Both actresses are first married.
Notes on reproductive health
The view that women must get married in their 20s has disappeared over time, noted lawmaker Cho Eun-hee of the ruling People's Power Party. The average age of first marriage is 33.7 years old for men and 31.3 years old for women in 2022.
Referring to the 2018 film "Something In The Rain" (Vietnamese title: Sister buys me delicious food) with the content of a love story between an older woman and a younger man, female reporter Cho shared: "marrying up with noona (sister) is a current trend. In my generation, we were married to oppa (brother). But now the values have changed. You can freely marry oppa, noona or someone of the same age."
However, for women, getting married at an older age can lead to difficulty conceiving. Song In-ok, head of Best of Me Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic in Seoul, advised brides in their 40s to start planning early to improve their chances of pregnancy.
As the number of late marriages increases, infertility due to relatively poor ovarian function also increases. If you get married late, you should go to a specialist when you intend to get pregnant and check carefully for hormonal abnormalities," she said.
The capital Seoul is expanding infertility treatment support for older couples to address the declining birth rate.
In March this year, the Seoul government announced that it would spend 212.3 billion won (160 million USD) over the next 4 years to help couples having difficulty conceiving.
