Age Difference Between Couples on the Way to Reversal

Published on 2015/08/09 | Source

More and more younger men are marrying older women, while fewer older men marry younger women.

According to statistics by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of first marriages where the man is older than the woman fell from 50,508 couples or 75 percent in 2000 to 37,704 or 68.6 percent last year.

But first marriages where the man is younger than the woman rose from 7,947 couples or 11.8 percent to 8,694 or 15.8 percent.

Last year, the number of weddings where the groom was younger than the bride for the first time surpassed the number of weddings where the couples were the same age.

The number of first marriages where the woman is more than three years older than the man increased markedly.

For a gap of three to five years, the number stood at 1,579 in 2000 but rose to 2,056 last year.

And the number of married couples where the woman is six to nine years older than the man rose from 297 to 457 over the same period.

Cases where the woman is more than 10 years older than the man also almost doubled from 47 in 2000 to 80 last year.

It seems that marriages where the woman is one or two years older than the man have become fairly standard, with the number remaining almost the same from 6,024 in 2000 to 6,101 last year.

When it comes to second marriages, couples where the woman is older than the man are also increasing. And a growing number of second marriages involve women tying the knot again with men who are getting married for the first time.

Matchmaking company Duo polled 596 single men and women in 2013 and found that the acceptable age difference when women are older than men is 3.2 years at most.

Asked about the reasons for this trend, 33.9 percent said age is no concern when it comes to love, 30.2 percent cited the rising social status of women, while 10.4 percent a growing awareness of gender equality.

Lee Woong-jin of matchmaking firm Sunoo said, "The deepening economic slump and rising wedding costs have contributed to a growing tendency among men to seek older women who may be more financially stable. That trend has also empowered working women to choose younger men".