One out of two South Koreans polled in a biennial social survey have said that they did not think marriage as necessary.

Releasing its findings on Wednesday after polling some 36-thousand people, Statistics Korea said 50 percent of respondents said one must get married, down one-point-two percentage points from two years ago. Forty-three-point-two percent believed both getting married or not are okay and three-point-six percent said no to marriage.

A majority of men considered it necessary at 55-point-eight percent, while 44-point-three women gave the same response. The gender gap widened among unmarried people, with 36-point-nine percent of men believing they should get married and 22-point-one percent among women agreeing.

Twenty-nine-point-one percent of respondents in their teens said marriage was necessary, compared to 71-point-six percent among those in their 60s.

Asked about their reasons for not wanting to get married, 28-point-seven percent cited a lack of money to cover expenses, while 14-point-six percent mentioned job instability.

The social survey was conducted on people over 13 years old from May 11 through 26 of this year.