More South Korean women got married in their early 40s than those in their early 20s for the second consecutive year in 2022 amid an aging population and shifting perspectives on marriage.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Monday, there were ten-thousand-949 marriages last year involving women aged 40 to 44, compared to ten-thousand-113 marriages involving women aged 20 to 24.

It continues the trend observed the previous year for the first time since the agency began compiling related data in 1990, with 2021 seeing slightly over 400 more marriages involving women aged 40 to 44 than those aged 20 to 24.

Compared to 25 years earlier, the number of women marrying in their early 20s plummeted 93 percent while that of women tying the knot in their early 40s jumped 50 percent.

The total number of marriages plunged 51 percent between 1997 and 2022 from 388-thousand-960 to 191-thousand-690.

The tendency partly reflects a demographic change with the number of women aged 20 to 24 dropping nearly 30 percent during the cited period and that of women aged 40 to 44 increasing over 16 percent.

It also comes amid an accelerated trend of considering marriage not as a must but an option.