SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's multicultural marriages kept growing for the third consecutive year due to high marriages between South Korean grooms and foreign brides, statistical office data showed Thursday.
The number of marriages between South Korean nationals and foreign spouses rose 5.0 percent from a year earlier to 21,450 in 2024 after expanding 25.1 percent in 2022 and 17.2 percent in 2023, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Of the total marriages here last year, international marriages accounted for 9.6 percent, down 1.0 percentage point from a year earlier.
Couples made up of South Korean men and foreign women took up 71.2 percent of the total multicultural marriages, followed by couples of foreign husbands and South Korean wives with 18.2 percent and marriages to naturalized spouses with 10.6 percent.
On average, grooms were 37.1 years old in transnational marriages, while brides were 29.7 years old.
Of all foreign and naturalized brides marrying South Korean men, Vietnamese accounted for 26.8 percent, followed by Chinese with 15.9 percent and Thai with 10.0 percent.
U.S. men took up 7.0 percent of all foreign and naturalized grooms tying the knot with South Korean women, trailed by Chinese with 6.0 percent and Vietnamese with 3.6 percent.
The number of divorces among multicultural couples decreased 2.0 percent from a year earlier to 7,992 in 2024.
The number of babies born to international couples soared 10.4 percent to 13,416 last year, marking the first growth in 12 years since 2012.
The tally made up 5.6 percent of the total newborn babies here in 2024, up 0.3 percentage points from a year ago. ■
