Data shows that about half of men aged 25 to 49 and a third of women in this age group remain single with no marital history.

According to a Statistics Korea report released on Tuesday marking World Population Day, the country recorded 192-thousand marriages last year, down from 295-thousand in 1970.

The number of marriages for every one-thousand people dropped from five-point-five to three-point-seven during the cited period.

The percentage of unmarried people has also been rising at a fast pace. Just over 47 percent of men aged 25 to 49 were single in 2020, up from 35 percent in 2010, while the percentage for women jumped from 22-point-six to just under 33 percent during the period.

With dwindling marriages, the number of newborns also fell, coming in at 249-thousand last year, down by half from a decade ago.

The total fertility rate also dropped from one-point-three in 2012 to zero-point-78 last year. Births out of wedlock numbered 77-hundred in 2021, accounting for two-point-nine percent of the total.