Number of marriages declines for 2nd straight year in 2013: data

The number of South Koreans tying the knot fell for the second straight year in 2013, government data showed Tuesday.

According to the data by Statistics Korea, the number of marriages filed last year stood at 322,807, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier. This followed a 0.6 percent on-year fall in 2012.

The decline comes as the average age of people getting married hit an all-time high last year, rising to 32.2 for men from 32.1 the previous year. The average age for women rose 0.2 to 29.6.

These ages are the highest since 1990 when the agency began to provide related data. At that time, the average age for men to marry was 27.79, with women marrying at the average age of 24.78.

The latest data underscore worries that delayed marriages would result in fewer childbirths down the road, possibly hurting the country's growth by cutting the overall working population.

The number of marriages between Koreans and foreigners came to about 26,000 last year, making up 8 percent of the total. This is down from 28,300 registered a year earlier and marked the third straight year that the figure has dropped annually.

The data also showed that the number of divorced people totaled 115,300 last year, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier.

Married couples stayed together 14.1 years on average before filing for divorce, which was 0.4 year longer than what was tallied a year earlier. (Yonhap)