The Ministry of Data and Statistics on March 19 said the number of marriages last year hit a seven-year high at 240,000, recovering to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. Shown is the free nuptials facility Seoul My Wedding at Boramae Safety Experience Center in Seoul's Dongjak-gu District. (Screen capture from Seoul My Wedding's site)

By Yoon Sojung

The number of marriages last year hit a seven-year high of 240,000, recovering to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Data and Statistics on March 19 released its 2025 marriage and divorce data, saying the number of marital unions last year rose 8.1% (18,000) from 2024 and surpassed 239,200 in 2019, the year prior to the pandemic.

By type, marriages in which it was the first for both partners comprised 82% of the total, leading the rise. The share of remarriages stayed at 9%.

Men and women in their early 30s led the growth in marriages. The average age of a man marrying for the first time was 33.9, similar to that in the previous year, and 31.6 for a woman, up a tenth of a point.

The number of international marriages dipped 0.3% to 21,000. By nationality, most foreign wives were from Vietnam (30.5%), China (16.1%) and Thailand (12.5%) while most non-Korean husbands were from the U.S. (28.2%), China (16.6%) and Vietnam (14.8%).

Matrimony between Korean men and Japanese women saw a conspicuous hike of 26.1% from 1,176 in 2024 to 1,483 last year. Unions between Japanese men and Korean women rose 29.3% to 190, up from 147 in 2024.

Park Hyun-jung, head of the ministry's Vital Statistics Division, said the rise in marriages "resulted from a convergence of population growth of those in their early 30s, change in the perception of singles who view marriage positively and demand for marriage that had been postponed due to COVID-19."

Park Hyun-jung, head of the Vital Statistics Division of the Ministry of Data and Statistics, on March 19 explains an analysis of the ministry's 2025 marriage and divorce data at a news conference at Government Complex-Sejong in Sejong. (Yonhap News)

arete@korea.kr