One out of ten couples who tied the knot last year were from different cultures, as the number of multicultural marriages returned to pre-pandemic levels.

According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, there were 20-thousand-431 multicultural couples in 2023, up 17-point-two percent from a year earlier.

While the number of multicultural marriages dipped following the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the figures returned to the pre-pandemic level of above 20-thousand.

Multicultural marriages accounted for ten-point-six percent of all marriages, up one-point-five percentage point from 2022. The proportion was the highest since 2010.

Marriage to Vietnamese nationals took up 27-point-nine percent of multicultural marriages, followed by people from China and Thailand.

Childbirth in multicultural families, meanwhile, dropped three percent on-year to 12-thousand-150, but the proportion of multicultural births jumped zero-point-three percentage point, accounting for five-point-three percent of total births.