Young Korean men expect to pay almost two times more than women expect to pay when getting married, a study found on Thursday.

According to a study conducted by professor Yoo Kye-sook of Kyung Hee University, male college students said they expect to spend an average of 108 million won while female students expected to pay 59 million won. The male respondents said they hope to get married at age 30 on average while women said 28.9.

The study surveyed a total of 384 students ― 190 men and 194 women ― enrolled at 13 universities in Seoul in 2012. The report was published in the latest magazine distributed by the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

The price scale went up for respondents who tend to have conspicuous consumption patterns, the report said. The expected age of first marriage also was older among those who wanted to spend a large sum of money on their wedding, it added.

Professor Yoo pointed out that people may choose to get married later because it is perceived as an expensive event.

“Unless the country solves its problems in regards to high wedding costs, discriminatory cost-bearing structure and show-offish wedding culture, the trend of late marriages will continue and eventually cause a further drop in the country’s low fertility rate,” the professor said in the report.

As of 2013, according to Statistics Korea, the average age of first marriage was 32.2 for men and 29.6 for women, nearly five years later than the average age recorded in 1990. The average ages of first marriage for men and women were 27.8 and 24.8, respectively.

In 2013, the average cost of a wedding per person surpassed 50 million won.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)