Multicultural marriages hit postpandemic high but lag overall growth

The number of multicultural marriages in Korea last year reached its highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Thursday by Statistics Korea. The figure reached 21,450 last year, up 1,019 or 5 percent from 20,431 the previous year. Multicultural marriages had fallen sharply from 24,721 in 2019 to 16,177 in 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19, and further to 13,916 in 2021. The figure has since gradually recovered, surpassing 20,000 in 2023 and reaching 21,450 last year. However, total marriages nationwide rose 14.8 percent to 222,000 during the same period, a much steeper increase than that of multicultural marriages. This led to a 1 percentage point drop in the share of multicultural marriages to 9.6 percent. By type, marriages between Korean men and foreign wives accounted for 71.2 percent of the total, followed by Korean women and foreign husbands at 18.2 percent. Cases where either or both spouses are naturalized citizens stood at 10.6 percent. The shares of both foreign wives and foreign husbands rose 1.4 percentage points and 0.3 of percentage points,Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times