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As women grow more socially active, the number of single women in the age bracket grew from 50,000 in 1990 to 230,000 last year.
Analyzing data from the National Statistical Office of marriages in 2006, the Chosun Ilbo found that of the 8,511 single women aged 35-44 who last year married men who had not been married before, 3,378 or 39.7 percent got hooked to someone younger. The percentage is three times higher than among all women (12.9 percent).
Lee Ji-yeon (not her real name) is a 36-year-old teacher who last year married a public official three years her junior. “Most eligible older men were either already married or had an incompatible personality,” she says. “I thought a younger man wouldn't be a problem since I make my own living." In fact, her husband's educational level and income are both lower than hers; Lee says he is “a younger brother who is as sincere as an elder brother.” Park Hye-jeong (not her real name) is a 37-year-old fashion designer. Late last year, she married an office worker five years her junior after returning from study in the U.S. “I used to date men of my own age or older, but they often meddled in my life,” she says. “Younger men are more understanding."
The older the women, the more likely they are to marry younger men. Some 34.8 percent of women aged 35 married younger men, but among women aged 39 the percentage was 46.7 percent and among women of 43, more than half or 53.5 percent tied the knot with a junior.
Younger men have no problem with this. Lee Cheol-hoon (29) is an office worker who married a woman three years his senior last year. “She earns much more than me and is well aware of men's problems owing to her long work experience." Cho Nam-hoon, the head of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' New Population Policy Development Center, says, "The fact that more women in their later 30s marry younger men points to a rise in the number of highly educated career women. These women don't intend to depend on their husbands economically and proactively choose their spouse." Meanwhile, only one-fifth of single women between 35 and 44, married divorcees or widowers.
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