Despite a slight rebound in South Korea’s total fertility rate in 2024, young people overwhelmingly associate marriage and childbirth with negative emotions such as sadness, fear and disgust, according to a new study.

The Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future (KPPIF), a non-profit population policy research institute, analysed roughly 50,000 posts related to marriage, childbirth and parenting on the workplace community platform Blind.

The findings highlight the prevailing negative perceptions towards marriage and childbirth among young people.

The study examined posts from December 2017 to November 2024 using frequency, topic, network and sentiment analysis to gain insights into young people’s perspectives, the institute said.

According to the sentiment analysis, more than 60 per cent of posts on marriage, childbirth and parenting expressed negative emotions.