The proportion of married couples in Korea who shared the housework last year was significantly lower it was than for their European counterparts, a study showed Wednesday.

According to “Korean Social Trends 2014,” a report released by Statistics Korea, the proportion of couples in South Korea who prepared meals together was 9.3 percent, while for couples in Norway and Denmark it was 33.1 percent and 28.1 percent, respectively.

The state-run agency studied married couples aged 20 or older from 12 countries in Europe, Asia and Southeast Asia, looking at six categories of household labor including cleaning, grocery shopping and taking care of sick family members.

The rate of Korean couples who cleaned the house together was 19.7 percent, the third-lowest among the 12 countries. The figures for Finland, Sweden and Denmark were 39.4 percent, 36.3 percent and 33.1 percent, respectively, the survey said. Japan had the lowest ratio with 14.2 percent, followed by the Philippines with 18.5 percent.

When it came to taking care of sick family members, 31 percent of Korean families shared the work. But 60.5 percent of the households said the burden fell on women, according to researchers from Seoul National University and the Korean Women’s Development Institute, who put together the report.

Last year’s Global Gender Gap Report placed Korea in 117th place, while Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark took the top five spots.

Researchers also found that most housework was done by women in Japanese families, too.

Hong Seung-ah, director of the family policy center at the Korea Women’s Development Institute, said this trend appears to be a result of gender stereotypes ― that men should be the breadwinner and women should be housewives ― that are still prevalent in Korea and Japan.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)