Korean women tying knot in 30s outnumber 20s for first time in 2021

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The number of South Korean women getting married in their 30s has surpassed those in their 20s for the first time in 2021 as tying the knot at a later age has become a new norm, data showed Tuesday.

According to data from Statistics Korea, the number of marriages stood at 193,000 in 2021, of which 157,000 were by first-time brides.

By age group, women tying the knot for the first time in their 30s accounted for 49.1 percent, or 76,000, of the total, followed by those in their 20s at 45.5 percent, 40s at 4.2 percent, teens at 0.5 percent, and 50s at 0.5 percent.

It is the first time that the first-time marriages of women in 30s outnumbered those in 20s.

The number of women getting married in 20s came to 333,000 in 1990, which was 18 times more than those in 30s. The gap narrowed to about 8 times in 2000 and twice in 2010.

As for men, the number of first-time grooms in their 30s had already surpassed those in 20s in 2005. In 1990, there were far more cases of first marriages among men in their 20s than 30s.

Data showed that 61.7 percent of entire grooms were in their 30s in 2021, more than double that of men in 20s at 27.6 percent. There were also 9 percent of men in 40s.

The median age for the first wedding among women came to 31.1 in 2021 and men was 33.4, drastically higher than 24.8 for women and 27.9 for men in 1991, data showed.