One-person households account for 30.3% of total in 2020

The portion of single-member households in South Korea surpassed 30 percent of the total last year, a government survey showed Sunday, amid an increase in diverse forms of families.

One-person families accounted for 30.4 percent of the total in 2020, according to a survey conducted on 11,000 households by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family every five years.

The percentage was 21.3 percent in 2015 and 15.8 percent in 2010.

At the same time, the proportion of households composed of parents and unmarried children fell to 31.7 percent in the 2020 research from 44.2 percent in 2015 and 48.4 percent in 2010.

The average number of members in a family reached 2.3, down sharply from 2.8 tallied five years ago. In 2010, a family consisted of 2.9 members on average.

Among the one-person households, the study demonstrated that 53 percent of them were women, while 61.1 percent were those aged 50 or older.

About 40 percent were unmarried, while 30 percent said they were widows.

Slightly more than 32 percent of the respondents said they support people's choice to not marry, while 21.1 percent said they were in favor of cohabitation outside wedlock. Those who support child-free marriages accounted for 21.3 percent.

In particular, those in their 20s were more supportive with the questions on marriage and childbearing. More than 50 percent of them went along with the non-marriage and no-kid trends, while 46 percent approved unmarried couples cohabiting.

The ministry said the latest survey reflected a change in the traditional forms of family in South Korea, where the four-member family type has been accepted as the norm.

Last month, the government announced its long-term policy plan to keep up with the changing trend and embrace diverse types of families like unmarried couples cohabiting, foster families and single-member households. (Yonhap)