Most South Korean girls see marriage as an option, rather than a necessity, a government survey showed on Thursday.

According to the study conducted by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2012, only 45.6 percent of the girls aged between 9 and 24 said marriage was definitely something they must do in life.

Boys were more likely to be fond of the idea, with 62.9 percent of them in the same age group saying they would walk down the aisle one day.

A slightly higher percentage of girls compared with boys believed in complete gender equality, with 95.7 percent of the girls saying that men and women should share equal rights on all fronts. Just over 88 percent of the boys said the same.

Similarly, 74.6 percent of the girls thought household chores should be a shared responsibility, compared with just 58.9 percent of the boys. More boys than girls said women should take the lead in carrying out household duty.

Schoolwork was the No. 1 concern among these youths, with 32.9 percent of both genders combined choosing it as their main source of worry.

Future career followed with 25.7 percent, while health and physical appearance came in third with 16.9 percent.

Stresses caused by schoolwork and career, however, lost 2.1 and 3.9 percentage points since 2006, though concerns over health and physical appearance gained 2.6 percentage points.

Boys became more self-conscious about their looks than girls did, with the response rate for health and physical image among boys growing 4 percentage points in the past six years.

The response rate for girls gained just 1.7 percentage points in the same period. (Yonhap)