The report said that 11.6 percent of all marriages last year were second marriages for both husbands and wives. The same figure in 1990 was only 4.7 percent. The percentage of marriages that were the first for both spouses decreased 79 percent from 89.3 percent in 1990.

The percentage of marriages between remarrying wives and first-time husbands increased from 2.3 percent to 5.6 percent, while the ratio of first-time wives and remarrying husbands increased from 3.6 percent to 3.8 percent.

More women and men are divorcing and remarrying around the age of 40. The average age for women divorcees increased from 32.7 to 37.1, and men from 35.6 to 40.6 years. The average age of remarriage for women was 37.9, and for men it was 42.2 years.

The average marrying age for both women and men has increased over the years. The women's number is up from 23.4 in 1985 to 27. The men's average also jumped, from 26.4 to 29.8. The average number of children a woman will bear dropped sharply from 4.5 in 1970 to 1.3 in 2001.

Women's economic participation rate recorded 49.7 percent last year, which is 10.4 percent higher than in 1970. With more women working, there were 2.9 million women householders as of last year, compared with 1.7 million in 1990. Last year, the average salary for women employees was 63.9 percent of that of the men, up 55 percent from 1990.

The society's preference for sons, however, has held steady. The ratio between male and female newborns in 2001 was 109.0 to 100; in 1970 it was 109.5 to 100. (Bang Sung-hun, sungbang@chosun.com )