Fewer weddings in August: South Korea's marriage boom is losing momentum

The number of marriages in South Korea fell in August for the first time in 29 months. According to data released by the state statistics agency on 28 October, 19,218 couples married in August, 1.2 percent fewer than in the same month last year. Divorces rose 4.4 percent to 7,510 in the same month. From January to August, 165,874 marriages were registered, up 5.2 percent – compared with growth of 7.7 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Births continue to rise: 23,703 babies were born in August, 13 percent more than a year earlier and the highest August figure since 2019. It was the 26th consecutive monthly increase. The total fertility rate stood at 0.87 children per woman in August, up 0.09 on the previous year. From January to August, 193,783 children were born (up 14.5 percent). The government's Population Strategy Committee expects a fertility rate of around 0.90 for 2026 as a whole.

The upswing was driven by a marriage boom: 191,690 marriages were registered in 2022, 222,412 in 2024 and 240,326 in 2025. Lee Sang-lim of Seoul National University's Population Policy Research Center told the Seoul Economic Daily that the effect of a second large 'echo' generation, which had driven many of the weddings, is now fading, and that declines are likely to appear first in economically weaker regions. From January to August, marriages rose 11.9 percent in Seoul but fell 0.9 percent in North Jeolla province. An official at the statistics agency said it was too early to call it a trend reversal.