South Korea's female population expanded slightly over 1 percent over the past five years to surpass the 25 million mark in 2020, census data showed Monday.

The number of women in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 25.16 million last year, up 275,000 from five years earlier, according to the 2020 census by Statistics Korea.

The average age of South Korean women came to 44.2 years last year, 2.6 years older than in 2015.

The median age of married South Korean women who tied the knot for the first time was 24.6 years old last year, compared with 24.2 years in 2015.

Married South Korean women gave birth to an average of 2.07 children in 2020, down from 2.19 five years earlier.

Nearly 15 percent of women of childbearing age (15-49) had no children last year, compared with 11.2 percent in 2015.

The data also showed parents took care of 60.2 percent of kids aged under 12 during the daytime last year, up 9.9 percentage points from five years earlier.

It represents the highest percentage since 65.7 percent in 2005, which is seen as indicating local parents face a big burden of child care costs amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Yonhap)