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No. 1 reason for getting married is fear of late-in-life loneliness

November 26, 2013

Fear of loneliness in later life is the primary reason for getting married, said Statistics Korea.

According to their study, singles aged 25-39 took up 27.4 percent of the total population in 2000, but the number soared to 44.3 percent in 2010. This is because the marriage age is getting older, and people refuse to get married.

In 1990, the average age of men getting married was 27.79 and women 24.78 but this rose to 29.28 and 26.49 in 2000.

Out of 500 men and 500 women, a third of the men surveyed (34.12 percent) said they marry because they fear of loneliness when they get old, while more than half of the women surveyed (52.65 percent) answered the same.

Other reasons for getting married for men were “to be happy” (18.64 percent), “the need for family” (14.70), “because it’s a must” (8.92), “for financial stability” (7.35), “to have children” (6.04) and “to make my parents happy” (1.84).

To the same question, women said “to be happy” (12.72 percent), “for financial stability” (9.54), “because it’s a must” (8.48), “the need of family” (7.07) and “to have children” (3.18).