In the hall decorated with pink balloons, flower strings with romantic lines and melodious love songs, they randomly sat at pre-arranged tables, chatted and were invited to participate in many activities, through which they introduced themselves, got to know the opposite sex and possibly progressed to a deeper love story later. Notably, this “mass meeting” was organized for the first time by the city government.

Such a government-sponsored public meeting and matchmaking model is no longer strange to many countries around the world , and is becoming popular in localities in South Korea. This program is the latest in a series of measures by local authorities to encourage people to start families in the context of the increasing trend of young people not wanting to marry or have children.

Scene of the first-ever meeting and matchmaking event organized by the Seongnam City Government (Gyeonggi Province, South Korea). Photo: The New York Times

“Negative attitudes toward marriage continue to spread in South Korean society, so local governments need to play a role in making it easier for those who want to get married to find a partner,” Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin said, according to The New York Times.

In recent years, the marriage rate has been falling around the world, but this situation is particularly worrying in South Korea. Bloomberg cited data recently released by the Korean Statistics Agency (KOSTAT) showing that in 2022, Asia's fourth-largest economy had only about 192,000 couples getting married, down 0.4% from the previous year. Notably, this is the lowest number since 1970, when KOSTAT began compiling related data, and the 11th consecutive year of decline.

This demographic trend in South Korea has raised concerns about a shrinking population, labor force, and economy. According to The Korea Times, the South Korean government has listed 89 regions across the country as “depopulated” and allocated 1 trillion won (about $760 million) annually to support matchmaking programs to boost the local marriage and birth rates.

ARM

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