DINKs account for 28% among couples married for less than five years

Three out of 10 newlyweds who have been married for less than five years are DINKs, short for Dual Income, No Kids, meaning they both work full-time and have no children. Seven years ago, they were only the third most common couple type, but they've emerged as the typical newlywed.

According to Statistics Korea's 'Statistics on Newlyweds in 2022,' released on Monday, there were 234,066 couples who had been married for the first time for less than five years and had no children as of November last year. This accounts for 28.7 percent of the total. Dual-earner couples with children made up 28.5 percent, or 232,459 couples, followed by single-earner couples with children (185,155 couples, 22.7%) and single-earner couples with no children (126,531 couples, 15.5%).

In 2015, DINKs accounted for only 18.0% of all newlyweds, totaling 212,733 couples. However, their share steadily increased to 21.7% in 2018 and 25.8% in 2020, reaching a record high last year. On the other hand, the proportion of single earners with children, the most common type of newlyweds in 2015 at 34.7%, has steadily decreased to 30.0% in 2018 and 26.2% in 2020. The share of DINKs exceeded that of single-earners with children (24.3%) for the first time in 2021, reaching 27.7%.

The rise of DINKs as a typical type of newlywed couple can be attributed to the growing social awareness that it is okay not to have children and the increasing age of childbearing among newlyweds. According to Statistics Korea's ‘Social Trends in Korea 2023,’ positive perceptions of childlessness among people in their 20s and 30s increased from 27.7 percent in 2015 to 44.1 percent in 2020. Additionally, the number of couples having their first child after more than five years of marriage increased from 5.3 percent in 2015 to 11.5 percent last year.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com