



By Park Si-soo







With fewer people marrying, South Korea's birth rate is plunging, creating a daunting demographic challenge.







The number of newlyweds hit a record low of 18,200 in February, down 4.2 percent year-on-year. The number of newborns also sank to a new low of 25,700, down 6.9 percent year-on-year.







Statistics Korea announced the figures on Wednesday, saying they were the lowest since it started collecting marriage and newborn data in 1981. The downward trend will continue, it said, because there are no signs the figures will bounce back and the government's countermeasures are largely ineffective.







Statistic Korea's biggest concern is the continued decline in newlywed couples.







Some may see marriage and having babies as independent issues. But with the Confucian mindset still holding sway among middle-aged and older people here, having babies out of wedlock is widely considered taboo.







In fact, the number of babies born out of wedlock accounted for a mere 1.9 percent of newborns in 2017.







"Marriage is the main precondition to having babies (in Korea)," a Statistics Korea official said. "One of the most efficient ways to boost birth rates would be to make more young people marry."







But to boost marriage rates is not an easy task, experts say.







A recent

showed more than half of Koreans aged between 13 and 24 think marriage is a matter of choice for various reasons, many of which are beyond the government's control.

