In March, Park held a funeral for their father without a formal reception, forgoing the traditional practice of receiving mourners over several days. Instead, they held a small and quiet family funeral.
“It was the way my father wanted it because he disliked being ostentatious when he was alive,” Park said. “I think he didn’t want to burden his children even after death. We were able to quietly remember him as a family.”
The aging population is pushing up the number of deaths, but funerals are instead becoming increasingly simplified. The trend is dubbed “small endings,” and does not invite friends and broad acquaintances to a traditional funeral hall for a three-day period of mourning. The funeral instead proceeds with only the essential steps and close family members.
A total of 25,045 funerals without a formal reception were held in 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday through the office of Rep. Han Zee-a of the People Power Party.
The figure was 15,672 in 2021, marking a 60 percent increase over five years. This is the first time official statistics on funerals without a formal reception have been released.
Such funerals accounted for 7.1 percent of all funeral home use last year, up from 5.7 percent in 2023 and 6.1 percent in 2024.
“Funerals without a formal reception increased in 2021 and 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They have continued to increase since then,” a source at a funeral service company said.
Of the 1,031 funeral homes nationwide, 948, or 92 percent, offer the option to hold funerals without a formal reception. By region, one in 10 funerals held last year in Sejong, Jeju Island and Ulsan were funerals without a formal reception.
At Paju Hanbit Hospital’s funeral home in Gyeonggi, the share of funerals without a formal reception surged to 61.5 percent in 2025, up from just 13.9 percent in 2024. At Jeil Hospital’s funeral home in Ulsan, eight out of 10 funerals last year were held without a formal reception.
Choi Gyu-ho, CEO of The Choomo, a funeral service company specializing in such funerals, said the monthly average had risen to 30 to 40 cases this year from around 20 last year.
A chrysanthemum, traditionally placed on funeral altarsPIXABAY
“We currently operate mainly in the greater Seoul area and Chungcheong provinces, but plan to expand into Gyeongsang provinces,” Choi said.
The most immediate reason for the increase in such funerals is cost. The average cost of a standard three-day funeral with a reception stands around 8 million won ($5,900) if around 150 mourners visit, according to funeral industry sources. Larger funerals with more mourners can cost 15 million to 20 million won.
Funerals without a formal reception cost around 2 million to 3 million won, about one-fifth the cost of a conventional funeral. The simplified funerals are more affordable as they do not require funeral hall rental fees, labor costs or food and beverage expenses, which account for a large portion of funeral costs.
A photo shows food typically served to funeral guestsSEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
Attitudes toward funerals are also changing. A total of 71.8 percent of respondents said they would want to have such a funeral, according to a survey of 1,000 adults conducted by market research firm Embrain in May. The main reasons were reducing funeral costs, avoiding the burden of formal condolences and preferring family-centered funerals. The trend is also being influenced by the growing number of middle-aged and older single-person households and looser ties among family members and relatives.
“Funerals without a formal reception were once viewed as a way for people without family or those from marginalized groups to hold funerals, but 'small endings' are gradually becoming a new way of remembering the dead,” Rep. Han said.
There is also growing analysis that the traditional Korean rites, not just for funerals, are breaking down.
A total of 63.9 percent of respondents said they would not perform ancestral rites during the Lunar New Year holiday, according to a survey by the Rural Development Administration. The figure is up 12.4 percentage points from 51.5 percent the previous year. The most common reason was having travel plans, at 32.7 percent, followed by religious reasons at 25.4 percent and not seeing the need to perform the rites at 25 percent.
A traditional charye table, set as part of a traditional rite of preparing a meal for the ancestors, is displayed at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food on Feb. 2, 2018.NEWS1
Weddings are also becoming increasingly simple. Lee, who is set to marry next year, is planning a "micro wedding" with only immediate family members. The trend goes a step beyond a small wedding, which typically invites only close friends and family.
“I didn’t romanticize weddings that much, so I didn’t want to make it a grand affair,” Lee said. “Since I’m not the first in my family to marry, both sets of parents agreed to respect our wishes.”
Eight in 10 unmarried men and women were found to prefer a small wedding, according to an Embrain survey conducted late last year.
“As social obligations and expectations toward the family community weaken, we are shifting away from the framework of the past and toward a system in which family members make decisions autonomously,” said Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University. “In other words, people are seeking a reasonable level that does not place a burden on maintaining relationships.”
BY KIM KYUNG-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
