New data finds that the number of first marriages with brides in their 30s surpassed the number of such marriages with brides in their 20s for the first time since related statistics began to be compiled in 1990.

According to the Korean Statistical Information Service(KOSIS) database of Statistics Korea on Tuesday, of the 193-thousand marriages that took place in 2021, 157-thousand involved brides who tied the knot for the first time, with more than 49 percent of that number, or 76-thousand-900, in their 30s. 

Women in their 20s accounted for 45-point-five percent of the first-time brides, followed by those in their 40s at four-point-two percent. 

In 1990, the number of first marriages for women in their 20s reached 333-thousand, 18 times that of first-time marriages with brides in their 30s. The gap narrowed to around eightfold in 2000 and then to twofold in 2010.

The number of first marriages for grooms in their 30s had already exceeded such marriages for 20-somethings in 2005.

According to KOSIS, women who got married for the first time were an average of 31-point-one years old in 2021, while men were 33-point-four on average, up six-point-three and five-point-five years, respectively, compared to 1991.