Childless families increase rapidly

Childless households are sharply increasing in Korea due to the low birthrate and an aging population, a governmental think tank’s research showed on Thursday.

According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs’ report, the proportion of two-member families without children increased to 27.9 percent in 2013, up 18 percentage points from 1990.

The share of three-member childless households also jumped from 6.9 percent to 17.1 percent during the period, according to the report written by Kim Moon-kil, an associate research fellow in the social policy research department at KIHASA.

The percentage of households with three adults and one child dropped from 21.4 percent to 10.5 percent and those with two children from 10.9 percent to 3 percent.

The ratio of “standard households,” or two parents with two children, also decreased by 4.7 percentage points to 14.1 percent and those with one child fell by 5.9 points to 8.6 percent.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)