The share of divorce consultations among people in their 60s and older has nearly quadrupled over the past 20 years. Among those who received divorce consultations, the oldest were a 90-year-old Namsung and an 88-year-old woman.
According to the "2025 counseling statistics" released by the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations (the center) on the 9th, the number of consultations handled by the center last year was 52,037. There were 20,646 in-person consultations, 29,730 phone consultations, 1,061 internet consultations, and 48 traveling consultations.
Of the in-person consultations, divorce consultations totaled 5,090 (24.7%), up slightly from the previous year (24.0%). Of these, 4,013 were women and 1,077 were Namsung.
By age group, women who received divorce consultations were in their 40s (30.5%), 60s and older (22.1%), 50s (21.4%), 30s (20.2%), 20s (5.7%), and teens (0.1%) in that order.
For Namsung, the order was 60s and older (49.1%), 50s (21.5%), 40s (18.8%), 30s (8.4%), and 20s (2.2%), showing a higher share of consultations among women in their 40s and among Namsung in their 60s and older.
For women, 20 years ago in 2005 the higher shares were in their 30s (34.5%), 40s (33.0%), and 50s (19.8%), but in 2025 they were in their 40s (30.5%), 60s and older (22.1%), and 50s (21.4%). Among women in their 60s, the share nearly quadrupled over 20 years, from 5.8% to 22.1%.
For Namsung, in 2005 the order was 30s (35.3%), 40s (26.4%), 50s (22.8%), 60s and older (12.5%), and 20s (3.1%), but in 2025 the order shifted upward to 60s and older (49.1%), 50s (21.5%), and 40s (18.8%). Among Namsung in their 60s, the share also nearly quadrupled from 12.5% in 2005 to 49.1%, accounting for about half of all Namsung who received divorce consultations.
In 1995, the share of divorce consultations among those in their 60s was just 1.2% for women and 2.8% for Namsung. Over 30 years, it increased more than tenfold for women and more than 17-fold for Namsung.
The reasons for seeking divorce consultations differed by gender. For women, "husband's unfair treatment" was the most common at 55.1%. For Namsung, "other serious reasons making it difficult to continue the marriage (long-term separation, personality differences, spouse's coercion to divorce, financial conflicts, insincere lifestyle, conflicts with in-laws, etc.)" was the largest at 56.7%.