Nearly half of South Korean couples divorced last year were childless, a much higher rate than those raising children, court statistics showed Monday.

Among 116,858 couples that split up last year, 46 percent of them did not have children at the time of divorce, a 2011 yearbook published by the Supreme Court said.

The divorce rate among childless couples has steadily risen from 38.6 percent in 2006 and 45.7 percent in 2008, it said.

The comparable figure was much lower for parenting couples, with 25.7 percent of couples with one child and 24.3 percent with two children ending their marriages in the cited period, the statistics noted. Only 4 percent of couples raising three or more kids separated.

Among the most common reasons for divorce were personality conflicts with 53,032 cases, followed by economic reasons with 14,017, a spouse's infidelity with 1,001 and family conflicts with 8,564, it added. (Yonhap News)