(123rf)

A growing number of young South Koreans are challenging conventional views on marriage and parenthood, with two out of five people in their 20s expressing support for having children without getting married, a recent government study showed Sunday.

Statistics Korea's annual study on Korean society revealed that 42.8 percent of Koreans believe it is acceptable to have children without marriage, marking a significant shift from a decade ago when only 30.3 percent held this view.

Support for having kids without marrying has also intensified, as the proportion of respondents in favor nearly tripled from 5.7 percent in 2014 to 14.2 percent this year. Conversely, opposition has waned, with those strongly against the marriage dropping from 34.9 percent to 22.2 percent over the same period.

This changing perception is reflected in fertility trends. In 2023, a record 10,900 babies -- 4.7 percent of all childbirths -- were born outside marriage, 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous year and the highest figure since records began to be kept in 1981.

The number of babies born to a parent who is single has been rising each year, with 6,900 in 2020, 7,700 in 2021, and 9,800 in 2022, most likely due to more couples not marrying or simply living together.

However, while societal attitudes toward having children without getting married are evolving rapidly, policy support has not kept up the pace.

Most childbirth and child care support policies in South Korea are designed around the framework of “married couples,” leaving children born to single parents or unmarried couples at risk of facing discrimination or falling into policy blind spots.

For instance, while the government’s Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee unveiled comprehensive measures in June and July this year to tackle declining birth rates -- addressing work-life balance, child care and housing -- it failed to include provisions for supporting births to single or unmarried parents.

Experts argue that creating institutional support systems for having kids regardless of marital status could be a solution to South Korea’s low birth rate crisis.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the proportion of children born outside marriage in 2020 was significantly higher in countries like France at 62.2 percent, the United Kingdom at 49 percent, and the United States at 41.2 percent compared to South Korea.