The number of babies born to multicultural married couples, however, fell 12.5 percent last year to 12,526, due to fewer international marriages over the past couple of years. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign spouses rose by the most last year as the stable COVID-19 situation promoted people’s cross-border movements, the statistics agency said Wednesday.
The number of “multicultural marriages” jumped 25.1 percent on-year to reach 17,428 in 2022, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
It marked the sharpest growth since the statistics agency began compiling related data in 2008.
The number of international marriages fell 34.6 percent in 2020 and 13.9 percent the following year due to the pandemic.
Of the total marriages in the country last year, multicultural marriages accounted for 9.1 percent, up from the previous year’s 7.2 percent, the data showed.
Vietnamese women took up the largest share of all foreign wives with 23 percent last year, followed by Chinese with 17.8 percent and Thai with 11.1 percent.
Of foreign husbands, those in the United States accounted for the biggest share at 8 percent, followed by China at 6.5 percent and Vietnam at 3.4 percent.
The number of babies born to multicultural married couples, however, fell 12.5 percent last year to 12,526, due to fewer international marriages over the past couple of years.
The number of divorces among multicultural couples fell 6.8 percent on-year to 7,853 in 2022, the data showed.
(Yonhap)
