MARRIAGES IN SOUTH KOREA DECLINED BY 40% OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS
The number of marriages in South Korea plummeted 40 percent over the past 10 years, leading to a decrease in the country’s birthrate, government data showed Sunday.
A total of 193,673 marriages were reported last year, sharply down from 322,807 cases in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The 2023 tally was slightly higher than the 191,690 marriages reported in 2022, but the yearly tally decreased for 11 consecutive years from 2012 to 2022.
We've known for a while that South Korea is committing demographic suicide. I sense a vague parallel with how some Jewish thinkers look at the disappearance of Jews—not via pogroms and extermination programs, but via radical demographic shift through things like intermarriage outside of the Jewish community. It's not an exact parallel, to be sure, but it does seem to indicate that Koreans—like many in the West, funnily enough—aren't that interested in their collective self-preservation. Of course, a lot depends on how you define "Korean." For now, the concept is mostly a conflation of nationality and race although it's possible to become a naturalized Korean. Maybe a century or so from now, the notion will be more like what we mean when we say "American," i.e. a person who is an instantiation of a culture and a believer in certain values and norms, not anything race-specific.
Japan had 1,800,000 live births in 2005.
ReplyDeleteNot sure the death tally for 2005.
In 2023 the birth tally was 773,000.
2023 saw 1,500,000 deaths.
Andy in Japan
Aging populations. Will Japan and Korea follow the Western template of bringing in immigrants to do the second-class work? In Korea, the composition of construction crews is increasingly non-Korean: I've seen Russians, Thais, etc., all speaking Korean. And there are all the ethnic "-towns" popping up everywhere: Russia/Uzbektown, Indiatown, etc. I imagine Japan has its equivalents.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked, but I would be surprised if there are any first world countries that are growing WITHOUT immigration. The only reason the US population is increasing is due to immigration.
ReplyDeleteHigher per capital income and greater education opportunities for the whole population lead to lower birthrates.
Brian
Brian,
ReplyDeleteWe're heading toward our own cliff for sure, but not as quickly.