South Korea has seen marriages fall by nearly half and births shrink to just one-third of their 1995 levels, even as marriages with foreign spouses have risen by more than 50 percent, new government data shows.

On Wednesday, Statistics Korea released the “Changes in Marriage and Births Over the Past 30 Years” report, highlighting how deeply the country’s family patterns have shifted.

The findings point to fewer marriages for people in their 20s, later childbirths, a rise in international marital unions and the lowest fertility rate among advanced economies.

The crude marriage rate declined from 8.7 per 1,000 people in 1995 to 4.4 in 2024. Total marriages peaked at 434,900 in 1996, then fell steadily to a low of 191,700 in 2022. Marriages rebounded slightly in 2023 (193,700) and more strongly in 2024 (222,400), but that is still 44 percent below three decades ago.

First marriages are happening later.

Men married at an average age of 28.4 in 1995, compared to 33.9 in 2024, while women shifted from 25.3 to 31.6 years old. This has pushed most exchanges of nuptials into people’s 30s and 40s. Subsequent marriages have also become more common, rising to 14.1 percent of men and 15.4 percent of women in 2024.

International marriages expanded from 13,500 in 1995 (3.4 percent of all marriages) to 20,800 in 2024 (9.3 percent). Marriages between Korean men and foreign women numbered 15,600, while those between Korean women and foreign men reached 5,000. These figures represent increases of 51 percent and 64 percent, respectively. Although the trend peaked in 2005, the number of cross-national unions has been climbing again since 2022.

Births have declined even more sharply.

South Korea recorded 715,000 births in 1995, but only 238,000 in 2024, a 67 percent drop. The country’s total fertility rate fell from 1.63 births per woman to 0.75 over the same period, about half the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 1.5. The crude birth rate dropped from 15.7 per 1,000 people in 1995 to 4.7 in 2024.

Parents are much older than before. The average age of mothers at childbirth rose from 27.9 years old in 1995 to 33.7 in 2024. Fathers shifted from 31.1 to 36.1. Births to women aged 35 or older jumped from 4.8 percent to 35.9 percent of the total.

Family size is also shrinking.

Firstborns declined from 345,800 in 1995 to 146,100 in 2024, a 58 percent fall, but their share of all births rose from 48 percent to 61 percent. Second births dropped by 75 percent and third births by 74 percent. Couples are also waiting longer after marriage before having children. The average gap between marriage and first childbirth increased from 1.5 years to 2.5 years.

Other notable changes include more children born outside marriage, up from 1.2 percent in 1995 to 5.8 percent in 2024, and more multiple births, such as twins, up from 1.3 percent to 5.7 percent.

A Statistics Korea official said fertility rates among married women in their late 20s and early 30s peaked in 2015, declined and have been rising again since 2022. “This means that among those who do marry, births are increasing,” the official explained.

The steepest birth declines occurred in South Gyeongsang Province (down 80 percent), Busan (75 percent) and North Jeolla Province (75 percent).

In contrast, the Seoul metropolitan area accounted for more than half of all births in 2024, led by Gyeonggi Province (28 percent), followed by Seoul (19 percent) and Incheon (6 percent).