Number of single men on rise

One or two decades ago, 37-year-old unmarried man, Jung, would have been labeled an “old bachelor.” But in 2012, the insurance company worker rarely hears people refer to him in that way.

“Many of my friends, and even my elder brother, haven’t married. Some haven’t because they started working late and haven’t earned enough money to buy houses and other things associated with marriage. And others haven’t because they want to enjoy their single life more,” Jung said.

“I have a girlfriend whom I’m thinking about marrying, but don’t want to rush marriage,” he said.

Like Jung, a growing number of men remain single because of various reasons: according to a report by Seoul City on Wednesday, 20.1 percent of men aged between 35 and 49 in the capital were unmarried in 2010.

The report showed the number of single men in the age group rise almost 10-fold in 20 years to 242,500 in 2010 from 24,200 in 1990.

It is a steeper rise than that of women in the same age group, a 6.4-fold increase.

“People get married at older ages than before because they study for longer periods and so get jobs when they are older. More and more people also think marriage is not necessary,” a city official said.

He noted another reason for the increasing number of single men is the growing number of women with higher education backgrounds and who are working.

“More than half of single men in the ages are high school graduates or have lower academic careers, while 61 percent of single women in this age group have college diplomas or higher education backgrounds. Those women tend not to marry men with lower school careers, so the number of such single men is rising,” the official said.

The value of marriage has also changed rapidly. In 2008, more men said marriage is a must (24.3 percent) than those who said marriage is a choice (22.8 percent). But in 2010 only two years later, this ratio was reversed: 29.8 percent said it is a choice, while 20.7 percent said it is a must.

“The growth of singles is directly connected to the low birthrate. As long as this trend continues, it is unlikely that the nation’s super-low birthrate will rise,” the official said.

The report also showed that the number of full-time fathers has more than doubled in six years. In 2011, some 35,000 men said they take care of household affairs and children without jobs, while 16,000 males said so in 2005. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>

news@theasian.asia