About 222,000 couples tied the knot, up 14.8 percent or 29,000 couples from the previous year, seeing the largest increase since 1996 when the number of marriages grew by 36,000.
The surge comes as the number of people born in the 1990s reaches their early to mid-30s, which is often considered the prime age for getting married in South Korea.
Postponed weddings due to the coronavirus pandemic also contributed to the spike, pushing the total number of marriages past 200,000 for the first time since dropping to 193,000 in 2021.
Among first-time married couples, 63.4 percent had an older husband, 19.9 percent had an older wife, and 16.6 percent were of the same age.
The number of marriages involving a foreign spouse reached 21,000, up 5.3 percent or 1,000 couples compared to the previous year. As for foreign wives, Vietnamese accounted for the largest proportion at 32.1 percent, followed by Chinese at 16.7 percent and Thai at 13.7 percent. Among foreign husbands, Americans made up the largest proportion at 28.8 percent, followed by Chinese at 17.6 percent and Vietnamese at 15 percent.
"The increase attributed to multiple factors including the growing population of people in their early 30s," said a spokesperson from Statistics Korea. "Government policies aimed at encouraging marriage may have played a part as well."
Meanwhile, the number of divorces decreased for the fifth consecutive year, continuing its downward trend since 2020.
The country has long struggled with a super-low birth rate amid an aging population, prompting policymakers to come up with various measures to support marriage and childrearing. The latest surge in marriages brings some relief, but it remains to be seen whether this trend will continue.
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