Seoul, Nov 5 (IANS) The number of multicultural marriages in South Korea edged down in 2025 from a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, taking up 8.9 per cent of all marriages.
The country recorded 21,399 multicultural marriages last year, down 0.2 per cent, or 51, from 21,450 in 2024, according to data from South Korea’s Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Marriages involving foreign wives accounted for 71.4 per cent of multicultural marriages, followed by those with foreign husbands at 18.9 per cent and those with naturalised citizens at 9.7 per cent, Yonhap News Agency reported.
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 per cent of multicultural marriages. In 36.1 per cent of all multicultural marriages, the husband was at least 10 years older than his wife.
Vietnamese wives accounted for 25.3 per cent of all multicultural marriages, followed by Chinese wives at 15.1 per cent and Thai wives at 9.2 per cent.
The corresponding figures for husbands from the United States, China and Vietnam were 6.8 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the number of divorces among multicultural couples rose 1.4 per cent on-year to 8,104 in 2025.
The number of babies born to multicultural families fell 0.5 per cent on-year to 13,347, the latest findings showed.
In October, South Korea’s culture ministry said that foreign tourist arrivals in South Korea this year are estimated to have already set an all-time annual record.
Preliminary figures from South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed that this year’s arrivals reached about 18.91 million on October 26, and the total is believed to have surpassed the previous annual record of 18.94 million, set last year, Tuesday, with more than two months left in the year.
The ministry expects about 1.94 million people to visit next month if the current trend continues, with the annual total topping 20 million for the first time in the third week of November.
South Korea’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young said breaking the annual record more than two months early has brought the government’s ambitious year-end target of 23 million foreign visitors “within reach.”
Visitor numbers rose across most major markets, including Chinese-speaking regions, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. Growth is also spreading beyond Seoul, with more foreign tourists entering the country through regional airports and ports and visiting areas outside the capital, a trend Chae described as “very encouraging.”
“We will focus not only on quantitative expansion but also on strengthening quality so that Korea can firmly establish itself as an irreplaceable travel destination in the global tourism market,” Chae said in a press release.
Foreign visitors’ spending also jumped 47.7 per cent from a year earlier, driven mainly by shopping, accommodation, and medical and wellness services.
The government attributed the record numbers to the global popularity of South Korean pop culture, innovation by the tourism industry and public hospitality toward foreign visitors.
The data on Monday revealed that the ratio of people with migrant backgrounds living in South Korea increased in 2025 from a year earlier to 5.4 per cent, with those in their 20s leading the overall gains.
The total migrant population came to 2.81 million in 2025, up from 2.71 million a year earlier, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Data and Statistics. South Korea’s total population stood at 51.82 million.
The data ministry defines people with a migrant background as those who are immigrants themselves or have at least one parent from overseas.
The category includes foreign nationals, naturalised South Koreans and second-generation immigrants.
Foreign nationals accounted for 75.1 per cent of the population with a migrant background, followed by second-generation immigrants at 14.1 per cent.
Another 9.1 per cent acquired South Korean citizenship through naturalisation or recognition of parentage, a legal process in which a parent recognises a child born out of wedlock as their own.
–IANS
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