A nationwide survey has found that more and more young people in their 20s and 30s are wary of marriage but are increasingly open to cohabitation.

According to Statistics Korea’s 2023 report on social trends released on Friday, the belief that marriage is necessary plunged while the notion of living with a partner without tying the knot was viewed positively by 40 percent of respondents.

Just 31-point-eight percent of women in the 30s and 27-point-five percent of women in their 20s felt it was necessary to get married, while 48-point-seven percent of men in their 30s and 41-point-nine percent of men in their 20s found marriage necessary.

The responses presented a dramatic shift among the demographic since 2008, which found men to favor marriage by some 20 to 30 percentage points more while 19 to 25 percent more women responded positively.

The main reason cited by respondents for a resistance to marriage was “a lack of marriage funds.”

At the same time, the positive response for cohabitation among those in their 20s and 30s increased from 25-point-nine percent in 2015 to 40-point-six percent in 2020.