The number of multicultural marriages in the country reached 21-thousand-450 last year, up five percent from the year prior, reaching the highest point since 2019, according to data released Thursday by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

The number of multiracial or multiethnic babies born was 13-thousand-416, a 10-point-four percent increase from the previous year, representing the first rise since 2012 and accounting for five-point-six percent of all births recorded, up zero-point-three percentage points year-on-year.

Multicultural births decreased from six percent in 2020 to five percent in 2022, then climbed back up to five-point-three percent in 2023.

The data suggests that the latest increase is largely due to the growing prevalence of multicultural marriages, which had significantly slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Multicultural marriages fell by nearly 35 percent in 2020 and continued to plunge before posting a rebound in 2022, then increasing annually thereafter.

Meanwhile, multicultural marriages accounted for nine-point-six percent of all marriages last year, representing a one percent on-year decline, as marriages between South Koreans increased by a larger margin, the ministry explained.

Marriages between South Korean husbands and foreign wives were the most common, accounting for 71-point-two percent of the total, while the husbands were foreign in 18-point-two percent of multicultural marriages.

Marriages in which at least one spouse was a naturalized citizen made up 10-point-six percent of the total.

Among multicultural marriages, husbands over the age of 45 were most common at 32-point-seven percent, while for wives, those in their late 20s accounted for the largest group at 23-point-four percent, followed closely by wives in their 30s at 23 percent.

The number of divorces among multicultural couples reached seven-thousand-992, down two percent from the previous year.