TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan recorded 104,376 marriage registrations in 2025, a 15.2% decrease from the previous year, according to a Ministry of the Interior press release.
The ministry said marriage registrations have steadily declined over the past decade, falling from a peak of about 148,000 couples in 2016. The downward trend has continued despite the legalization of same-sex marriage in May 2019.
Of the marriages registered last year, 101,071 were between opposite-sex couples, while 3,305 were same-sex marriages. Among all newly registered marriages, 85,042 couples, or 81.5%, consisted of two Taiwanese citizens. The remaining 19,334 marriages, or 18.5%, involved one spouse who was a foreign national.
Among the 3,305 same-sex marriages, 1,043 were between men, and 2,262 were between women. New Taipei recorded the highest number, with 651 same-sex marriages, followed by Taoyuan and Taichung, each registering 416.
Taiwan's crude marriage rate, the number of marriages per 1,000 people, fell to 4.5 in 2025, down from 5.3 in 2024.
While the overall number of marriages declined, the share involving foreign spouses slightly increased. Marriages involving a foreign spouse accounted for 18.5% of all registered marriages in 2025, up 0.7% from the previous year.
Spouses from Southeast Asia made up the largest group, with 9,596 marriages, representing 49.6% of all marriages to a foreign spouse and 9.2% of all marriages registered in 2025. Spouses from China totaled 5,170, accounting for 26.7% of marriages to a foreign spouse and 5% of all marriages, per the press release.
Excluding spouses from China, Vietnamese nationals were the largest group, with 6,427 foreign spouse marriages. They were followed by US nationals, with 880 marriages, and Indonesian nationals, with 821.
Female foreign spouses continued to outnumber male foreign spouses. Of the non-Taiwanese spouses who married Taiwanese citizens, 13,471, or 69.7%, were women, while 5,863, or 30.3%, were men. However, the ministry said the gender gap has narrowed over the past decade, with the gender ratio rising from 31.8 in 2016 to 43.5 in 2025.
By region, northern Taiwan recorded the highest number of marriages involving foreign spouses, with 9,806, or 50.7% of the total. Southern Taiwan followed with 4,578 marriages, or 23.7%, while central Taiwan recorded 4,499, or 23.3%. Eastern Taiwan and the Kinmen and Matsu islands registered 296 and 155 such marriages, respectively.
