International marriage

choi

International marriage |  Herr and Madame, Señor and Mrs; Research at last begins to cast some light on the extent, causes and consequences of cross-border marriages. Economist, Nov 12, 2011
http://www.economist.com/node/21538103

Quote:

"According to Gavin Jones of the National University of Singapore, 5% of marriages in Japan in 2008-09 included a foreign spouse (with four times as many foreign wives as husbands). Before 1980, the share had been below 1%. In South Korea, over 10% of marriages included a foreigner in 2010, up from 3.5% in 2000. In both countries, the share of cross-border marriages seems to have stabilised lately, perhaps as a result of the global economic slowdown. The country with the biggest share of such unions is Taiwan, where 13% of wives in 2009 were foreigners, about the same level as in 1998, but a big fall from the peak in 2003, when 28% of all weddings involved a foreign-born wife. Chinese citizens are not considered foreigners in Taiwan and if you include marriages in which they are one of the spouses, the proportion is still higher.

"Calculations by Giampaolo Lanzieri, an Italian demographer, show that in France the proportion of international marriage rose from about 10% in 1996 to 16% in 2009. In Germany, the rise is a little lower, from 11.3% in 1990 to 13.7% in 2010. Some smaller countries have much higher levels. Nearly half the marriages in Switzerland are international ones, up from a third in 1990. Around one in five marriages in Sweden, Belgium and Austria involves a foreign partner. The rate seems to be rising fastest in Mediterranean countries: in Spain and Italy, cross-border marriages accounted for less than 5% of the total in 1995; by 2009, the share had reached 14% in Italy and 22% in Spain.

"only 4.6% of Americans were married to a foreigner in 2010, up from 2.4% in 1970

"Everywhere, cross-border marriage rises with migration, but more slowly. According to Mr Esteve’s figures, the correlation is roughly one international marriage for every two new migrants. That would seem to mean that half of new migrants are marrying into their host society and the other half (presumably) into their own communities.

"True, marriages with foreigners have increased sharply in Spain—but that was because of a spurt of marriages with non-EU citizens: Spain had huge immigration flows from Latin America during the 1990s and 2000s. By implication, the closer integration that the EU is supposed to be bringing about seems to be having no discernible impact on the marriage choices of Dutch, Belgian and Spanish citizens.

"Language, it appears, remains a persistent barrier to international marriage in EUROPE [emphasis added] and the spread of English as a second language does not seem to have changed that. Asia is different. In Europe and America, marriage tends to follow migration. In Asia, people marry to migrate.

"International marriages are often attacked as exploitative, because they typically take place between an older richer man and a younger, less well-educated woman from a poor country. Terrible examples of abuse do exist. Yet the evidence suggests that international marriages often last longer than average and that migrant wives come to play important roles in their husband’s host country. * * * Governments should protect its victims—but not prevent the process.

Note:
(a) Shakira
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira
(Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll; 1977- ; Columbian)
(b) For Jennie Jerome, see Lady Randolph Churchill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Randolph_Churchill
(1854-1921; born Jeanette Jerome; mother of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; married for the first time on April 15, 1874, aged 20, at the British Embassy in Paris, to Lord Randolph Churchill, who died in 1895, aged 45; In 1900, she married George Cornwallis-West (1874–1951), a captain in the Scots Guards who was the same age as her elder son Winston--they divorced in 1914)
(c) Hanyang University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyang_University
(漢陽大學校; one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea; private; Established  1939)
(d) Autonomous University of Barcelona
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_University_of_Barcelona
(a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola, near the city of Barcelona; Established  1968)
(e) Free University of Brussels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_University_of_Brussels
(1834-1969, when it split into the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
(f) Chungnam National University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungnam_National_University
(忠南大學校; national; Established  1952; Location  Daejeon 大田廣域市)

Daejeon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daejeon
(g) Ajou University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajou_University
(亞洲大學校; private; located in Suwon, 20 km south from Seoul; Estabklished  1973)
(h) Goyang  高陽 市
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goyang
(i) Maastricht University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_University
(a public university in Maastricht, the Netherlands; Founded in 1976)