International marriages increase at sharpest rate in 2022

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Korea posted its steepest year-on-year increase in international marriages in 2022, primarily because travel restrictions were eased after years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data, Wednesday.

The data released by Statistics Korea showed the number of marriages between Koreans and foreign nationals totaled to 17,428 last year, up 25.1 percent from 2021.

The year-on-year increase was the highest since the government started compiling relevant data in 2008, the agency said.

The rate was a rebound following year-on-year decline in the two preceding years — a 34.6 percent drop in 2020 and a 13.9 percent drop in 2021 — when the pandemic was at its height.

 

“The country's softened entry restrictions for foreign nationals were apparently behind the increased number of international marriages,” the agency said.

Correspondingly, the rate of international marriages out of the total number of marriages bounced back, too.

The rate, after reaching 10.3 percent in 2019, slid to 7.6 percent in 2020 and then to 7.2 percent in 2021, but advanced to 9.1 percent in 2022.

Of the 17,428 marriages last year, foreign wives accounted for 66.8 percent or 11,649. Foreign husbands accounted for 20 percent or 3,479. The statistics also included marriages with naturalized Korean citizens under the same category, comprising 13.2 percent or 2,300.

Concerning the nationalities of foreign wives, Vietnamese took up the largest share with 23 percent, followed by Chinese with 17.8 percent, and Thai with 11.1 percent.

Americans accounted for the highest number of foreign husbands with 8 percent, as compared to Chinese with 6.5 percent, Vietnamese with 3.4 percent and Canadians with 1.8 percent.

By regions, international marriages were most frequent in Gyeonggi Province where 5,217 cases were reported. Seoul reported 3,422 marriages, followed by 1,080 in Incheon.

The number of divorces of international couples slid by 571 or 6.8 percent between 2021 and 2022, as compared to a 12 percent year-on-year fall in 2020 and a 3 percent year-on-year decline in 2021.

Some 48 percent of the divorces took place among couples where the wife was a foreign national, 35 percent among couples with naturalized Koreans and 16.9 percent among couples where the husband was a foreign national, respectively.

Of those who divorced in 2022, 31.8 percent had been married for less than five years. Another 23.6 percent divorced after being married for 10 to 15 years, while the remaining 22.1 percent were married for five to 10 years.

Meanwhile, the number of babies born to international couples fell 12.5 percent last year to 12,526, purportedly due to fewer international marriages over the past couple of years and amid Korea's falling birthrate.