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Job stability, income, home ownership linked to higher birthrate: Survey

Published: 16 Dec. 2025, 16:06

A baby fair is held in southern Seoul on Aug. 17. [YONHAP] 원본

Job stability, higher income and home ownership are key factors in correlation with higher rates of marriage and childbirth, a government survey showed Tuesday.

The Ministry of Data and Statistics said it has found such a trend through a cohort study on people born between 1983 and 1995, the first survey of its kind. The study was conducted over an eight-year period from 2015 to see the correlation between economic and social status, and marriages and birth.

The study showed that the marriage and birthrates were comparatively lower in the younger generation than the older one.

Some 32.4 percent of males born in 1988 were married at the age of 32, while 42.9 percent of those born in 1983 had tied a knot at the same age.

For females, 45.3 percent of those born in 1989 were married at the age of 31, while 56.5 percent of those born in 1984 did so at the same age.

In terms of birthrate, only 17.8 percent of the men born in 1988 had a child when they were 32 years old, while 27 percent of the men born in 1983 had a child at that age.

Twenty-seven percent of the women born in 1989 had given birth to a child when they were 32 years old, while 38.3 percent of the women born in 1984 had a child at that age.

By the age of 35 for men and 34 for women, those who were full-time employees showed higher marriage and birthrates compared to three years ago in both gender groups.

Marriage and birthrates also increased at a steeper pace over the cited period among those with an above-average income and those who own a home.

By region, men living in the greater Seoul area had the highest proportion of those not married or who has no kids at the age of 32 — 69.1 percent of those born in 1988 and 58.6 percent of those born in 1983. It was the same for 31-year-old women who were born in either 1989 or 1984.

The survey also showed that both men and women who have used a parental leave were more likely to have multiple children compared with nonusers.

Yonhap