An image for illustrative purposes [123RF]
An image for illustrative purposes [123RF]

About 9 in every 100 marriages registered in South Korea last year involved a multicultural couple, according to a government report released Thursday. Both multicultural marriages and births declined, driven by a drop in the number of naturalized citizens and a base effect from strong figures in prior years.

Multicultural couples continue to have more children than Korean-born couples — including a higher share of third or subsequent children — but even among multicultural families, the proportion having a third child or more has been steadily shrinking.

The Ministry of Statistics released the findings Thursday in its "2025 Multicultural Population Dynamics" report.

Multicultural marriages totaled 21,399 last year, down 51 cases, or 0.2 percent, from the previous year.

Overall marriages rose 8.1 percent to 240,000, but the decline in multicultural marriages pushed their share of all marriages down 0.7 percentage points to 8.9 percent.

"Marriages involving foreign wives or husbands increased, but the drop in marriages involving naturalized citizens had a significant impact," a ministry official said. "A sharp decline in naturalizations in 2021 and 2022 appears to have weighed on multicultural marriages."

The official added that a base effect from the increase in multicultural marriages in 2023 and 2024 also played a role.

Among multicultural marriages, unions with a foreign wife were the most common at 15,287 cases, or 71.4 percent. Marriages with a foreign husband accounted for 4,036 cases (18.9 percent), followed by marriages in which one or both spouses were naturalized citizens at 2,076 cases (9.7 percent).

Among husbands in multicultural marriages, those aged 45 or older made up the largest share at 31.8 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 20.5 percent and those in their late 30s at 16.6 percent.

Among foreign or naturalized husbands in multicultural marriages, those in their early 30s accounted for the largest share at 27.0 percent, followed by those in their late 30s at 22.2 percent and those in their late 20s at 18.4 percent.

Among husbands who were Korean by birth, those aged 45 or older made up the largest share at 37.3 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 18.2 percent and those in their early 40s at 17.4 percent.

Among wives in multicultural marriages, those in their late 20s accounted for the largest share at 22.9 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 22.8 percent and those in their late 30s at 16.0 percent.

Those aged 19 or younger made up 4.9 percent.

Among foreign or naturalized wives, those in their late 20s had the highest share at 22.9 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 20.3 percent and those in their early 20s at 16.2 percent.

Among wives who were Korean by birth, those in their early 30s accounted for the largest share at 33.3 percent, followed by those in their late 20s at 22.8 percent and those in their late 30s at 19.4 percent.

The average age at first marriage in multicultural unions was 37.1 for husbands and 29.7 for wives, unchanged from the previous year.

The average age gap between spouses at first marriage was 7.3 years, narrowing by 0.1 years from the year before.

In terms of the age gap between spouses, the husband was older in 75.2 percent of cases, the wife was older in 18.8 percent, and the couple was the same age in 6.1 percent.

In 36.1 percent of multicultural marriages, the husband was 10 or more years older than the wife — roughly 13 times the 2.7 percent rate seen among Korean-born couples. However, that share was down from 37.3 percent the previous year.

The share of couples where the husband was 6 to 9 years older also narrowed, from 13.3 percent to 12.8 percent.

The most common countries of origin for husbands were the United States (6.8 percent), China (5.6 percent) and Vietnam (3.6 percent).

For wives, the top countries of origin were Vietnam (25.3 percent), the United States (15.1 percent) and Thailand (9.2 percent).

Multicultural divorces totaled 8,104 cases, up 1.4 percent from the previous year.

Overall divorces fell 3.3 percent to 88,000, while multicultural divorces rose 1.4 percent.

As a result, multicultural divorces accounted for 9.2 percent of all divorces, up 0.4 percentage points.

By type, divorces involving a foreign wife were the most common at 52.6 percent, followed by those involving a naturalized citizen at 31.7 percent and those involving a foreign husband at 15.7 percent.

The average age at divorce rose to 50.7 for husbands, up 0.2 years, and to 41.6 for wives, up 0.4 years.

Among those divorcing, 35.2 percent had minor children — lower than the 43.9 percent rate seen in divorces between Korean-born spouses.

The average length of marriage before divorce was 10.2 years, down 0.1 years from the previous year.

By duration, marriages of less than five years accounted for the largest share at 33.4 percent, followed by those lasting five to under 10 years at 21.3 percent and those lasting 10 to under 15 years at 17.9 percent.

The share of divorces occurring within five years of marriage has fallen from 40.0 percent in 2015, but at 33.4 percent it remains more than twice the 14.6 percent rate seen among Korean-born couples.

Among foreign or naturalized husbands in multicultural divorces, the most common countries of origin were China (12.5 percent), the United States (3.3 percent) and Japan (2.9 percent).

For wives, China was also the top country of origin at 29.6 percent, followed by Vietnam at 27.8 percent and Thailand at 6.2 percent.

Births to multicultural families totaled 13,347, down 0.5 percent from a year earlier.

Overall births last year rose 6.7 percent to 254,000, but the decline in multicultural births pushed their share down 0.4 percentage points to 5.2 percent. The ministry attributed the drop to the base effect and the decline in naturalizations.

First children accounted for 60.2 percent of multicultural births, second children for 27.0 percent, and third or subsequent children for 12.9 percent.

The shares of first and second children in multicultural births were 2.4 percentage points and 4.5 percentage points lower, respectively, than among Korean-born parents, while the share of third or subsequent children was 6.9 percentage points higher.

However, the share of third or subsequent children in multicultural births has been declining steadily — from 13.8 percent in 2023 to 13.7 percent in 2024 — pointing to a broader contraction in births among multicultural families.

"This still means multicultural couples have more third or higher-order children than Korean-born parents," a ministry official said. "But Vietnam and China are the nationalities that contribute most to multicultural births, and as marriages with Vietnamese and Chinese women decline, the share of third or subsequent children in multicultural births is trending lower than before."

By the mother's age group, those in their early 30s accounted for the largest share of multicultural births at 31.9 percent, followed by those in their late 30s at 29.6 percent and those in their late 20s at 18.8 percent.

The average age of mothers at birth was 32.6, nearly unchanged from 32.5 the previous year.

Among foreign or naturalized mothers, the top countries of origin were Vietnam (27.9 percent), China (10.2 percent) and Japan (6.3 percent). For fathers, the top countries were the United States (8.4 percent), Vietnam (5.3 percent) and China (5.1 percent).

By region, Gyeonggi Province recorded the most multicultural births at 3,910, followed by Seoul at 2,360 and Incheon at 953.

In terms of the share of multicultural births within each region, North Jeolla Province and South Chungcheong Province each recorded 6.5 percent, while North Gyeongsang Province came in at 6.3 percent.

Sejong had the lowest share nationwide at 2.7 percent.

Deaths within multicultural families totaled 3,257, up 3.9 percent.

Deaths within multicultural families accounted for 0.9 percent of all deaths, unchanged from the previous year.


husn7@heraldcorp.com