Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. Marriages between younger Korean men and older Korean women accounted for just over 20 percent of first marriages last year, meaning roughly 1 in 5 couples consisted of a wife who was older than the husband. The share of couples with an older husband, meanwhile, continues to decline annually. Over the past 15 years, it fell by 6.1 percentage points, while the proportion of couples with an older wife rose by 5.3 percentage points. Older wives are even more common among remarried couples. The figures raise a question: Has age become less important to Koreans when considering marriage? Older wives account for 1 in 5 first marriages According to statistics released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on Thursday, the wife was older in 20.2 percent of the 198,603 first marriages registered last year. The proportion has risen steadily, from 14.9 percent in 2010 to 16.3 percent in 2015, 18.5 percent in 2020 and 19.9 percent in 2024, crossing the 20 percent mark for the first time last year. Over the same period, the share of couples of the sa