▲ The "Areumduri Multicultural Choir," composed of 18 multicultural children, wears traditional costumes from their parents' home countries and performs songs including "Butterfly."
Out of every 100 couples who tied the knot last year, 9 were multicultural couples, data showed.
While overall marriages and births increased side by side, both multicultural marriages and births declined.
According to the multicultural vital statistics for 2025 released by Statistics Korea today, multicultural marriages totaled 21,399 last year, down 51 cases or 0.2 percent from the previous year.
Although total marriages rose 8.1 percent to 240,000, the decline in multicultural marriages caused their share of total marriages to drop 0.7 percentage points to 8.9 percent.
The decrease appears to have been influenced by a drop in naturalized citizens, as well as a base effect following the increase in multicultural marriages between 2023 and 2024.
By marriage type, unions with foreign wives were the most common at 15,287 cases, followed by foreign husbands at 4,036 cases, and marriages involving naturalized citizens at 2,076 cases.
Among multicultural marriages, husbands aged 45 or older accounted for the largest share at 31.8 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 20.5 percent, and those in their late 30s at 16.6 percent.
For wives, those in their late 20s held the highest share at 22.9 percent, followed by those in their early 30s at 22.8 percent, and those in their late 30s at 16 percent.
Couples where the husband was 10 or more years older accounted for 36.1 percent, which is 13 times higher than the 2.7 percent recorded for South Korean couples.
By the husband's country of origin, the U.S. accounted for 6.8 percent, China 5.6 percent, and Vietnam 3.6 percent. For wives, Vietnam accounted for 25.3 percent, China 15.1 percent, and Thailand 9.2 percent.
Multicultural divorces stood at 8,104 cases, up 1.4 percent from the previous year.
The average duration of marriage for multicultural divorces was 10.2 years, shortening by 0.1 years compared to the previous year.
By duration of marriage, less than 5 years accounted for the largest share at 33.4 percent, followed by 5 years to less than 10 years at 21.3 percent, and 10 years to less than 15 years at 17.9 percent.
Multicultural births came to 13,347, down 0.5 percent from a year earlier.
While total births nationwide grew 6.7 percent last year, births among multicultural parents decreased, reducing the proportion of multicultural births by 0.4 percentage points to 5.2 percent.
Among multicultural births, firstborns accounted for 60.2 percent, second children for 27 percent, and third or later children for 12.9 percent.
The shares of first and second children among multicultural births were 2.4 percentage points and 4.5 percentage points lower, respectively, than those of South Korean parents, while the share of third or higher children was 6.9 percentage points higher.
However, the proportion of third or later children among multicultural births has continued to decline following 13.8 percent in 2023 and 13.7 percent in 2024.
(Photo provided by Statistics Korea, Yonhap News)
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