Marriages with foreign spouses in South Korea rise for 3rd year in 2024
The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign spouses rose for the third consecutive year in 2024, data showed Thursday, Yonhap reports.
The number of multicultural marriages reached 21,450 last year, up 1,019 from the previous year's 20,431, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The number of international marriages sharply declined to 16,177 in 2020 from 24,721 the previous year and dropped further to 13,926 in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the figure rebounded to 17,428 in 2022 and further to 20,431 in 2023, the data showed.
In 2024, the number of total marriages reached 222,000, a 14.8 percent increase from the previous year, while multicultural marriages grew by 5 percent on-year, indicating a relatively smaller rise.
Marriages with foreign wives were the most common at 15,271 cases, followed by foreign husbands at 3,898 and naturalized citizens at 2,281, the data showed.
Compared with 2023, marriages to foreign wives and foreign husbands increased by 7 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, while marriages to naturalized citizens fell 8.9 percent.
The number of divorces among multicultural couples fell 2 percent from the previous year, totaling 7,991 in 2024.
Earlier, it was reported that marriages in South Korea rose for the second straight year in 2024.
