Multicultural marriages in S. Korea edge down in 2025

Korea saw a slight decline in multicultural marriages in 2025, according to data released Thursday, with the figure dropping to 8.9 percent of all marriages. This marked an 8.0 percent decrease year-over-year, from 21,450 in 2024 to 21,399 in 2025, as reported by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

The majority of multicultural marriages involved foreign wives, accounting for 71.4 percent of such unions. Foreign husbands made up 18.9 percent of multicultural marriages, while those with naturalized citizens constituted 9.7 percent. The average age of husbands at first marriage stood at 37.1 years, while wives were younger, with an average age of 29.7 years. In 75.2 percent of multicultural marriages, the husband was older than the wife, and in 36.1 percent of cases, the age gap between spouses was at least 10 years.

Vietnamese women were the most common foreign brides, accounting for 25.3 percent of multicultural marriages, followed by Chinese wives at 15.1 percent and Thai wives at 9.2 percent. The age gaps were most prominent in marriages with Vietnamese wives, with 6.8 percent of husbands being foreign nationals from the United States, 5.6 percent from China, and 3.6 percent from Vietnam.