Multicultural marriages in S. Korea edge down in 2025

The number of multicultural marriages in South Korea edged down in 2025 from a year earlier, data showed Thursday, taking up 8.9 percent of all marriages.

The country recorded 21,399 multicultural marriages last year, down 0.2 percent, or 51, from 21,450 in 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Marriages involving foreign wives accounted for 71.4 percent of multicultural marriages, followed by those with foreign husbands at 18.9 percent and those with naturalized citizens at 9.7 percent.

The average age for first marriages was 37.1 years for husbands and 29.7 years for wives.

Husbands were older than their wives in 75.2 percent of multicultural marriages. In 36.1 percent of all multicultural marriages, the husband was at least 10 years older than his wife.

Vietnamese wives accounted for 25.3 percent of all multicultural marriages, followed by Chinese wives at 15.1 percent and Thai wives at 9.2 percent.

The corresponding figures for husbands from the United States, China and Vietnam were 6.8 percent, 5.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the number of divorces among multicultural couples rose 1.4 percent on-year to 8,104 in 2025.

The number of babies born to multicultural families fell 0.5 percent on-year to 13,347, the latest findings showed.