(KPL/Yonhap) The number of newly married couples in the Republic of Korea dropped below 1 million for the first time in 2023, with nearly half without children, data showed Tuesday.

Newlyweds refer to couples who had been married for five years or less.

In 2023, the number came to 974,000, down from 1.03 million the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

This marks the first time the number of newlyweds has fallen below 1 million since the agency began collecting relevant data in 2015.

The figure has shown a downtrend from 1.47 million in 2015 to 1.32 million in 2018 and 1.18 million in 2020. On average, the figure decreases by 50,000 to 80,000 couples annually.

Despite the overall decline, there was a slight uptick in the number of couples in their first year of marriage. In 2023, 191,175 couples tied the knot, reflecting a 2.9 percent increase from the previous year.

"The rise is attributed to weddings delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The weddings were concentrated between August 2022 and the first half of 2023," an agency official said.

Of the newlywed couples in 2023, 47.5 percent did not have children, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, the data showed.

the Republic of Korea has been struggling with a low birthrate and aging population, as many young people opt to postpone or give up on getting married or having babies in line with changing social norms and lifestyles, as well as in the face of high home prices, a tough job market and an economic slowdown.

In 2023, the country's total fertility rate -- indicating the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime -- dropped to 0.72, marking the lowest level since 1970.

It was much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep the Republic of Korea's population stable at 52 million.

KPL