The marriage rate in South Korea hit a record low last year.

Statistics Korea said on Thursday that the number of marriages reached 305-point-five-thousand last year, down five-point-four percent from the previous year.

The crude marriage rate, which is the annual number of marriages per one-thousand population, stood at six last year, down four-tenths from the previous year's figure. It marks the lowest number since 1970 when the nation began to compile the related data.

The average age of first marriages also increased. Men are getting married for the first time at the age of 32-point-four and women at 29-point-eight.

An official at Statistics Korea attributed the falling marriage rate to a continued decrease in the population of those in the common age range for marriage.