Seoul: The proportion of single-parent households among young people aged 20 to 39 continued to rise in recent years, government data showed Thursday, signaling a shift in social norms around marriage and childbearing.

According to Yonhap News Agency, out of a total of 1.06 million households in this age group with children, some 81,000, or 7.6 percent, were identified as single-parent households in 2023. This represents a steady increase from 6.7 percent recorded in 2020, 7.1 percent in 2021, and 7.4 percent in 2022.

Among such single-parent households, 78.2 percent were headed by mothers in 2023, the agency noted. In contrast, among two-parent households, 73.9 percent were headed by men. Meanwhile, the employment rate of single parents registered as heads of households stood at 65 percent in 2023, significantly lower than the 86.9 percent recorded among heads of households with both parents.