The variety of multicultural marriages in Korea final 12 months reached its highest degree for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, in keeping with information launched Thursday by Statistics Korea.
The determine reached 21,450 final 12 months, up 1,019 or 5 % from 20,431 the earlier 12 months.
Multicultural marriages had fallen sharply from 24,721 in 2019 to 16,177 in 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19, and additional to 13,916 in 2021. The determine has since steadily recovered, surpassing 20,000 in 2023 and reaching 21,450 final 12 months.
Nonetheless, complete marriages nationwide rose 14.8 % to 222,000 throughout the identical interval, a a lot steeper enhance than that of multicultural marriages. This led to a 1 share level drop within the share of multicultural marriages to 9.6 %.
By kind, marriages between Korean males and international wives accounted for 71.2 % of the whole, adopted by Korean ladies and international husbands at 18.2 %. Circumstances the place both or each spouses are naturalized residents stood at 10.6 %.
The shares of each international wives and international husbands rose 1.4 share factors and 0.3 of share factors, respectively, from a 12 months earlier.
Amongst international wives, Vietnamese ladies accounted for the biggest share at 26.8 %, adopted by Chinese language at 15.9 % and Thai at 10 %.
In contrast with the earlier 12 months, the share of Thai wives elevated by 0.1 of share level, whereas these from Vietnam and China decreased by 1.1 and 1.5 share factors, respectively.
In the meantime, multicultural births accounted for five.6 % of all births, up 0.3 of share level from a 12 months earlier.
By kind, births to international moms made up 61 %, international fathers 21.9 % and naturalized mother and father 17.1 %.
The share of international moms elevated 1.7 share factors, whereas that of naturalized mother and father declined by the identical margin.
