A new survey has found that only half of married women believe that having a child is a must. 

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs surveyed nine-thousand-265 married women aged between 15 and 49, and found that 49-point-nine percent of respondents believe having children is essential while nearly 17 percent said the opposite. 

Compared to results of a similar survey in 2015, that marks a drop of more than ten percentage points while those who expressed the opposite view jumped more than six percentage points. 

Twenty-five percent of women who said having children is not essential said they held such opinions because they believe it would be difficult for children to live a happy life. 

Though the respondents cited two-point-25 as the ideal number of children to have, nearly 39 percent said having one child is more realistic while nearly 28 percent said it would be optimal to have no children at all. 

The survey also found that the way people perceive marriage has drastically changed. 

The institute asked one-thousand-140 single people aged between 20 and 44 on whether they believe it is essential to get married. Some 14 percent of male respondents replied marriage is a must while only six percent of female respondents answered the same.