Only 4 percent of single South Korean women in their 20s and early 30s view marriage and childbirth as essential, a survey showed, a development that illustrated the chronic decline in childbirths in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Meanwhile, 12.9 percent of single men in the same age bracket agreed that marriage and childbirth were essential for women, according to the survey conducted by the Korean Association for Social Welfare Studies.

The survey showed that 53.2 of female respondents believed marriage and childbirth for women were not important, compared with 25.8 percent of male respondents.

The survey came as South Korea has been dogged by a chronic decline in childbirths as many young people delay or give up on having babies in the face of an economic slowdown and high home prices.

The country’s total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, hit a record low of 0.78 in 2022, according to data from Statistics Korea. (Yonhap)