A joint wedding ceremony of multicultural couples takes place in Seoul on March 5, 2013. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The education and income level of users of international marriage brokers has significantly increased, South Korea’s gender ministry said Thursday.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family conducted research on 379 registered international marriage brokers and 4,195 domestic and foreign users.
The study showed that the share of university graduates among domestic users rose to 43.8 percent last year from 29.8 percent in 2014.
Among foreign users, the share of university graduates rose from 12 percent to 19.7 percent during the period. Among foreign spouses, the share of those with higher than high school education jumped to 77.5 percent from 49.3 percent in 2014.
The share of domestic spouses with a monthly income of more than 3 million won (US$2,660) showed an upward trend rising from 26.2 percent in 2014 to 38.2 percent in 2017 and 46.4 percent last year.
Among the couples, 90.7 percent were still married, but 5.4 percent were divorced. The share of separation and runaways stood at 0.9 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.
At 83.5 percent, the vast majority of foreign spouses were from Vietnam, with their average age ranging from 19 to 29 years (75.9 percent). Among them, the share of those with high school education was the highest at 57.8 percent.
Domestic spouses were mostly men, with a majority of 61.3 percent between 40 and 49 years of age, followed by those older than 50 at 20.6 percent.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
