Multicultural Marriages Increased by 25.1% Compared to Last Year

Statistics Korea to Release '2022 Multicultural Population Dynamics Statistics' on the 29th

While the total number of marriages is decreasing, multicultural marriages increased by 25% compared to the previous year. The proportion of multicultural marriages also slightly rose, accounting for about 10% of all marriages.

According to Statistics Korea's "2022 Multicultural Population Dynamics Statistics" released on the 29th, multicultural marriages accounted for 17,428 cases out of all marriages, an increase of 3,502 cases (25.1%) from the previous year (13,926 cases). Last year, the total number of marriages was 192,000, a 0.4% decrease from the previous year, while multicultural marriages increased by 25.1%. The share of multicultural marriages in total marriages also rose by 1.9 percentage points to 9.1% compared to the previous year.

The types of multicultural marriages were in the order of foreign wives (66.8%), foreign husbands (20.0%), and naturalized citizens (13.2%). Compared to the previous year, the proportion of marriages with foreign wives increased by 4.7 percentage points, while marriages with naturalized citizens decreased by 2.8 percentage points. The average age at first marriage for husbands in multicultural marriages was 36.6 years, and for wives, 29.9 years; compared to the previous year, husbands’ age increased by 1.6 years, while wives’ age decreased by 0.5 years. Among multicultural couples, 74.5% had husbands older than their wives. Couples where the husband was 10 years or more older accounted for 35.0%, an increase of 10.2 percentage points from the previous year.

The national origins of foreign and naturalized wives in multicultural marriages were Vietnam (23.0%), China (17.8%), and Thailand (11.1%) in that order. Compared to the previous year, the proportion from Vietnam increased by 9.4 percentage points, while those from China and Thailand decreased by 6.1 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. Among all divorces, multicultural divorces accounted for 8.4% (7,853 cases), a 0.1 percentage point increase from the previous year.

The proportion of multicultural births among all births was 5.0%. Last year, 12,527 multicultural births were recorded, a 0.5 percentage point decrease from the previous year. The types of multicultural births were foreign mothers (61.0%), foreign fathers (20.0%), and naturalized citizens (19.0%) in that order. Compared to the previous year, the proportions of foreign mothers and naturalized citizens decreased by 4.1 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, while foreign fathers increased by 4.6 percentage points.