The birth rate of the echo boomer generation, the children of baby boomers, fell to only about half the rate of their parents, Statistics Korea said in a report released Thursday.

A married woman in the echo boomer generation born between 1979 and 1992 gave birth to an average of 1.10 children, compared to 2.04 in her parents’ generation.

About half of married women in the echo boomer generation gave birth to a single child while 63.9 percent of those in the baby boomer generation, born between 1955 and 1963, bore two children.

Nearly half of echo boomers graduated from four-year universities, compared to only 20.2 percent among baby boomers, according to the report based on the 2010 census.

Ninety-two percent of 25-year-olds were unmarried in the echo boomer generation, compared to 45.5 percent in the baby boomer generation.

The population of baby boomers stood at 6.95 million, about 30,000 more women than men. There were 9.54 million echo boomers, 360,000 more men than women.

Whereas mechanical handling was the most common job among working baby boomers (15.1 percent), three out of 10 working echo boomers are professionals.

The number of one-person households was 1 million in the echo boomer generation, compared to 580,000 in the baby boomer generation.

About three of five baby boomers lived in homes they own, while 42.5 percent of echo boomers lived on monthly rent.

Of the 5.15 million baby boomer households, 54.2 percent lived with their children.

Gyeonggi Province was the most popular area of residence for baby boomers, with 1.15 million households living there. Seoul was the most popular for echo boomers, with 1.5 million households living in the capital.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)