Fewer and Fewer Koreans Study Abroad

The number of Korean students going overseas to study has dwindled for a third consecutive year, according to statistics from the Education Ministry.

Their number kept rising from 2008 to peak at 262,465 in 2011, but since then they have been on the decline, reaching 219,543 this year.

The figures also include exchange students, language learners and those on foundation courses.

The U.S. still topped the list as a destination for Korean students last year with 70,600 or 32.2 percent, followed by China with 63,400 or 28.9 percent and Japan with 17,200 or 8.3 percent.

Next came Australia (14,100 or 6.4 percent), Canada (9,800 or 4.5 percent), and the Philippines and the U.K. (7,000 or 3.2 percent each).

The numbers have dwindled in most countries, most drastically in the U.K. with a 44 percent drop from 2012 to 2013 and New Zealand with a 43 percent decline. But in the Philippines they rose about 2,000 on-year.

"It seems that an increasing number of parents feel they can't afford the cost of sending their children abroad after a protracted recession, while many college students are deciding not to go abroad because foreign diplomas or degrees are no longer the magic wand they used to be for finding decent jobs," a ministry official said.

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Dwindling Marriages Lead to Fewer Divorces

/Newsis

An average of 189 couples got married and 55 got divorced every day in Seoul last year. Divorces are on the wane only because fewer people are getting married in the first place.

In 1971, there were only 3,787 divorces in the capital, according to statistics, but they rose steadily until a peak of 32,499 in 2003.

The numbers then started to dwindle to 21,768 in 2010 as the married population declined.

The number of marriages has plummeted since it peaked at 108,370 in 1991.

The peak marriage rate in the early 1990s led to the peak in divorces in the early 2000s, because divorce becomes more likely after 10 years of marriage.

The rate of divorces per 10 married couples was 0.8 in 1971, rising to 4.5 in 2003 but dropping to three in 2013.

By age, divorces happen most often among men aged 45 to 49 and among women aged 40 to 44. Last year, 0.91 percent of those men and 0.88 percent of those women got divorced.

View the original article here

Dwindling Marriages Lead to Fewer Divorces

/Newsis

An average of 189 couples got married and 55 got divorced every day in Seoul last year. Divorces are on the wane only because fewer people are getting married in the first place.

In 1971, there were only 3,787 divorces in the capital, according to statistics, but they rose steadily until a peak of 32,499 in 2003.

The numbers then started to dwindle to 21,768 in 2010 as the married population declined.

The number of marriages has plummeted since it peaked at 108,370 in 1991.

The peak marriage rate in the early 1990s led to the peak in divorces in the early 2000s, because divorce becomes more likely after 10 years of marriage.

The rate of divorces per 10 married couples was 0.8 in 1971, rising to 4.5 in 2003 but dropping to three in 2013.

By age, divorces happen most often among men aged 45 to 49 and among women aged 40 to 44. Last year, 0.91 percent of those men and 0.88 percent of those women got divorced.

View the original article here