It has been over a year since A (29) has been in a relationship. After COVID-19 began to spread last year, just seeing someone outside has been stressful. His acquaintances tried to introduce him to some women a few times, but he refused claiming he already had too much on his mind. A said, “I have no intention to date or get married for now.”

B (45), who has been married for five years, has put off plans to have a baby, which she had originally planned to have this year. Since she and her husband have been infertile, she has to undergo in vitro fertilization. However, she is reluctant to go to the hospital due to the novel coronavirus. B said, “I wanted to have two children, even if I had to do so through in vitro fertilization. But because of my age, I wonder if I’ll be able to have even one.”

A study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic would have an impact on the future population structure of South Korea. The extended physical (social) distancing due to the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to fewer gatherings of people, which in turn caused a decline in marriages and childbirths. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and the Population Association of Korea released these findings at the 24th Population Forum on the theme, “Population Fluctuation with COVID-19 and Policy Implications” on May 13.

Eight out of ten single men and women did not have an opportunity to meet someone new since the COVID-19 outbreak. A team led by Choi Seul-ki, a professor at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, conducted a survey of 602 single men and women aged 25-49, and 78.1% of the respondents said they had no experience of meeting or being introduced to a new member of the opposite sex for a year since last February. About 32% of the respondents answered that the number of times they either met or were introduced to a new person “decreased considerably” compared to before COVID-19. The number of gatherings declined due to distancing measures and most gatherings were replaced with video calls or conferences, so conditions did not encourage people to meet someone new.

The experience of the pandemic also changed people’s thoughts on marriage and childbirth making them more passive. According to the survey by Choi’s team, 28.4% of the 306 men and women who were currently in a relationship answered that they had no thoughts on getting married. About half of these people, 14.1% answered that their willingness to get married decreased compared to pre-COVID-19 days. Of the 153 people who said they planned to get married, 27.5% said they were going to postpone their marriage due to COVID-19. Choi said, “Because of COVID-19, incomes decreased and the future is uncertain, so the tendency to avoid marriage could grow stronger.”

Plans to have children also changed towards the negative. The survey asked all 1,945 respondents including married people the number of children they wanted to have, and about 10% answered that the number dropped significantly compared to before COVID-19. People who answered that the number “increased slightly” or “increased significantly” accounted for less than 2% of the total. Kye Bong-oh, a professor of sociology at Kookmin University, who also conducted the survey said, “As the COVID-19 outbreak continues, people are concerned about their economic situation, which could discourage them from having children.”

According to the population trend released by Statistics Korea, there were 14,973 marriages in February, a 21.6% drop from the same month last year. During the same period, the number of newborn babies fell by 21,461 or 5.7%. Choi said, “If this is a short term phenomenon it may not be a big problem, but at present the COVID-19 situation is in its second year, so we need to consider measures.”