Number of marriages grows amid economic recovery

The number of marriages in Korea increased more than 5 percent in 2010 from a year earlier thanks to recovering economic conditions, a government report showed Tuesday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of couples getting married came to about 326,000 last year, up 16,000, or 5.3 percent, from a year earlier. It compared with on-year declines of 4.6 percent and 5.5 percent in 2008 and 2009, when an economic crisis prompted many couples to delay marriage.

"Economic recovery seems to have played a role in increasing the number of marriages last year as couples decided to proceed with their nuptials after delaying them in recent years due to the economic crisis," an agency official said.

The number of marriages per 1,000 people also inched up to 6.5 last year from the previous year's 6.2, the report showed.

Couples, however, continued to wed at older ages, the report showed.

Men were first married at an average age of 31.8 last year, while females got married first at an average age of 28.9. The figures were both up 0.2 from a year earlier, according to the report.

International marriages also grew, with a total of 34,200 marriages reported between Koreans and foreign nationals last year, up 900 from a year earlier, the report showed. The ratio of international marriages, however, inched down 0.3 percentage point to 10.5 percent.

Of foreign women who wed Koreans, Chinese accounted for the largest number, 36.6 percent, followed by Vietnamese with 36.6 percent and Filipinas with 7.3 percent, respectively, the report showed.

Chinese males also accounted for the largest share, 28.8 percent, among foreigners who married Korean women. Japanese men came next with 26.3 percent, trailed by Americans with 19 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of divorces filed last year dropped 5.8 percent to about 117,000. The decline came after a 6.4 percent on-year gain in divorces in 2009, when the nation was struggling to recover from the global financial and economic crisis.

(Yonhap)