How Singles Took Over Seoul

[uledy.livejournal.com]

More and more Koreans are deciding to stay single or, if they marry, to have no children. Like most developments this is led by the capital, where the number of people who live alone has increased more than 10-fold over the last 30 years, while that of childless couples has grown more than four times.

The figures come from data about the 3.6 million households within city limits released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday.

Childless married couples accounted for a mere 5.51 percent or 101,135 households in 1980, but that surged to 12.8 percent or 423,229 in 2010.

Among singles the surge was even more dramatic -- from 4.49 percent or 82,477 households in 1980 to a whopping 24.39 percent or 854,606 in 2010. From the rarest kind of domestic setup, the single household has now turned into the second most common.

There is a wide gap in the views of marriage and divorce between men and women. Some 39.4 percent of women in Seoul say marriage is optional, compared to only 27.7 percent of men.

Some 41.8 percent of women consider divorce an option, whereas 54.1 percent of men remain firmly opposed.

The reason may be that while more women have careers, attitudes in marriage have not changed apace. Women are normally saddled with all the domestic duties and childcare just as they were 30 years ago. Most of the victims of domestic violence are still women.

Women in Seoul spend 3 hours and 13 minutes a day on average doing housework and taking care of children, even though half of them have jobs, compared to a mere 29 minutes for men.

Domestic violence remains commonplace. Last year, 16.7 percent of married couples, or one in six, in Seoul experienced domestic violence. Women accounted for 15.3 percent of victims, far higher than the proportion in Australia (4.9 percent), Japan and the U.K. (3 percent), and the U.S. (1.3 percent).

The city government said it conducted the survey to work out policies to better meet shifting needs and conditions of Seoul residents and come up with specific policies by December.


source: chosun


ladies we gonna make it after all~ (bonus points if you get the reference^^)

Comments

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

If you're gonna expect people to live for work, don't expect people have time for marriage and kids.

One in Six experience domestic abuse is ridiculous, and I imagine it's higher than that.

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wondering if those numbers were based solely on reported incidents, because there is no way this can be an estimated statistic.

[jaded-chaela.livejournal.com]

Agreed, the fact that One in Six experience abuse is ridiculous.

They have the US as 1.3; that has to be wrong, it's way to low. I can think of four marriages right off the top of head that had domestic abuse.

[achan123.livejournal.com]

??? u mean lower right? O_o

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

more women have careers

Exactly. I totally rme at people who act like you HAVE to be in a long-time relationship, engaged or even married (with or without children) when you're 25+. Like not everyone has to be interested in those things. I have a friend who was already married and with a child at only 21 and I respect her decision, but I don't like how she's like: "wtf" when I say that I'm not interesting in marriage or having kids at this moment. And some members or my family are also like: "at 20 I already had 2 kids". So what? The mentality was pretty different 30/40 years ago. Now people are more interested in their careers and enjoy themselves, and not everyone has the same mentality anyway.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

My mom keeps saying to my sis that at her age she had three kids and my sister tells her to give it a rest and that she doesn't want to sacrifice her youth lol.

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

aw yeah ik, my parents' friends are always asking me when i'm going to give my parents a grandchild -___- girl, i work for a nonprofit, u tell me how i can support a family that way. there's generational shift too that's probably why don't understand why people our age aren't having more babies. imo it's just getting harder to start a family in your early 20s when some of us can't even get a job or don't have enough money to support a family. babies are expensive! (and good partners are getting hard to find)

[ah-mui.livejournal.com]

Ugh I know right? Are you Asian though? Because I am and that's definitely the mentality of people in my home country. Thank god I'm studying in Australia right now because just this year alone (I'm 25) like 6 different friends I know got married and another 5 got engaged. And the year's not done yet. I'm the only one out of my closest girlfriends that's currently single and even though I'm not home I still feel this invisible pressure you know?

[jewelry-flower.livejournal.com]

I think I am like that too. It isn't like I oppose dating or having a family. Eventually, I think I will, but not right now. I fell free, I love kids, but I don't want or think about commitment at this moment. I have too many things I have to do and things I want to do. Moreover, I have seen a lot of abusive relationship of people whom I love dearly, that's why I refuse to commit myself in a relationship just because I'm "old enough." Luckily, my family is very understanding and my mom never rushes me into this kind of thing. But relatives and friends can be such a burden sometimes, especially when they ask about my love life. I play it off and dodge those questions. I just don't want to say that I don't feel like I need to commit myself into things I don't want now. Asian family =.=.

[theharleyquinn.livejournal.com]

I wonder what the long term demographic effects of this will be, especially with the low birth rate. There's going to be a disproportionate amount of elderly for the population to take care of.

[babyonions.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the case in all developed countries? Japan has a huge problem with that, for example.

[miss-pioupiou.livejournal.com]

this is a huge problem in Germany too

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

Not sure if I want to admit I get the reference...

Looking at that article I could see why folks are staying single...

[jlie-ly.livejournal.com]

"Some 39.4 percent of women in Seoul say marriage is optional, compared to only 27.7 percent of men.

Some 41.8 percent of women consider divorce an option, whereas 54.1 percent of men remain firmly opposed."

this is like Seoul women say screw it, they have had enough bs about women's traditional responsibilities in marriage.

[porcupinegloves.livejournal.com]

Some 39.4 percent of women in Seoul say marriage is optional, compared to only 27.7 percent of men.

i feel like this could be the case for many places (at least for younger demographics)... whenever i talked to my friends about marriage the boys were the ones that wanted to get married, traditional style, in a church and everything, and the girls were always like 'ew i don't even know if i want to get married someday'
(but maybe it was just my friends lol idk)

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

lol ikr. It's interesting because society always picture men as ~free spirits~ and women as if their ultimate dream was getting married and have a family when nowadays is not like that anymore. Most of young women (like 18~24 and even a bit older) I know are not really that interested in marriage and family (at least by the moment).
Most of young guys I know are in the same boat tho. One of my best friends started to date a guy (she's 28 and he's 27) but they broke up (in a friendly way) because they both realized that they were happier being single lol.
Like I said most of people start to settle down and/or having kids closer to late 20s/early 30s than early/mid 20s like before. At least in my experience idk.

[jewelry-flower.livejournal.com]

I say because us women in this era can actually multi-tasking. We can earn money, have high education degree and still manage to cook and take care of ourselves. That's why we don't need another person to take care of us. Men are different. They need to seek comfort and needed to be taken care of. It is not like it's a bad thing, everybody has his or her own weakness. It's just that people and older generation need to know that women are fine and they have the right to decide when they want to settle down or not.

[morgenderper.livejournal.com]

Men just want housekeepers, women are not here for that shit.

Why needing a man you have a hitachi magic wand ?

(http://imgur.com/6NjcYnL)

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

Yes to the gif

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

perfect gif and comment

[very-pinku.livejournal.com]

It's expensive to live in places like Seoul and Tokyo to raise a family and have a career at the same time. And more and more women are realizing that they don't need marriage to financially support themselves anymore. It's not like years back when women couldn't get a college degree or needed to be very privileged to get one (which was in my grandmother's era in the US). Changes in places like S.Korea and Japan were slower when it comes to that so now, it's such an attractive option compared to marriage and settling down

It's sad that domestic violence is continually increasing because of the lack of power the men have over their women more now. Not denying the opposite exists but much more frequent with women being victims.

I want kids and a family if I could but seeing how I have to take time off and even may have to quit more than once for kids, it's a tough decision to make.

[erisabetsu.livejournal.com]

I am going to korea...I bet I will def someone who wants an original big fat greek wedding with me and divorce me as soon as I have his kid.

[dorawa.livejournal.com]

Well I hope not cause the kid will have his last name and therefore be his no matter what leaving you divorced with no kid so...

[somacomatose.livejournal.com]

i just came back from seoul and there were couples EVERYWHERE. you become very aware of your single status :/

[jewelry-flower.livejournal.com]

lol Ikr. I feel like the whole Asia is like that. I may agree with the number of childless couple, but the single part, please.....

[cherrypop.livejournal.com]

Whaaaaat? LOL. I live in Seoul. This is SO not true. There's so many couples here that everyday feels like Valentine's Day, no joke.

[the-erotomanic.livejournal.com]

i think they meant never married when they say single.