Lee Sung-ah, a 27-year-old scriptwriter, has been in a serious relationship with her boyfriend for more than six years. Although the couple is ready to marry, Lee asked her boyfriend to postpone marriage, citing her career ambitions. 

“I think I’m still too young to tie the knot. I have a dream to work as a documentary producer someday soon and have more studies I want to do. I would like to invest more time and energy to myself for now,” Lee told The Korea Herald.

Lee is one of many Korean singles who delay marriage for their personal development.

In a survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 36 percent of singles responded that they have not gotten married yet because of their self-improvement plans, followed by difficulties in finding affordable housing for newlyweds at 14.8 percent and unstable job status at 12.7 percent.

While self-improvement was picked as the top reason by both men and women, the second top reason differed by gender. Men chose difficulties in getting housing whereas women selected challenges in balancing work and domestic affairs.

The survey was conducted on 1,000 individuals in January last year, with 260 singles included.

Meanwhile, among married respondents who raise only one child, 49 percent said that they gave up on having more children due to financial burdens.

“Although my wife and I want to have a second child, it is realistically nearly impossible since raising one toddler already requires a lot of money,” said 36-year-old office worker Kim Jin-sung who raises a 2-year-old son with his working wife.

“From diapers to the allowance that (the couple) gives to the mother-in-law who takes care of our son in the day time, everything is money when bringing up a child.”

About 17 percent said they gave up because of difficulties in handling work and child care at 17.2 percent, followed by concerns over securing their job positions at 7 percent.

In order to solve the low birthrate problems, reducing the economic burden for childbirth and child care must be the top priority of the government, 40 percent of the total respondents said in the survey.

The majority - over 74 percent - thought that the government’s efforts to alleviate the low birthrate problem were not enough. Of this proportion, about 31 percent said the current measures were not feasible while 25 percent said that the measures were not suitable for them.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)