Do Korean Americans Intermarry with Other Asian Americans?

Dear Korean,

I'm an American of English heritage living on the periphery of Chinatown in Manhattan. Besides the Chinese, many Koreans and Vietnamese own businesses in my neighborhood. I'm curious about the extent of the interaction among different Asian American ethnic groups. For instance, is it common for Korean and Chinese Americans to intermarry?

Stuart

There is survey data on this precise topic thanks to Professor C.N. Le of University of Massachusetts. At his site Asian Nation, Professor Le put together the marriage data for major Asian American ethnic groups.

For Korean Americans, below are the numbers. As you can see, there are three columns of numbers. The first column is for all married couples that include at least one Korean American. The second is for married couples that include at least one Korean American who is raised in the United States. The third column is for married couples, with at least one U.S.-raised Korean American marrying another U.S.-raised person.

Koreans
Men
Korean	90.4	61.1	44.8
Other Asian	2.9	10.4	13.0
White	5.3	23.1	34.6
Black	0.2	0.8	1.2
Hispanic/Latino	0.9	3.7	5.3
Multiracial & All Others	0.4	0.7	1.1
Population Size (x1000)	265.4	47.8	30.2
Women
Korean	68.1	35.4	24.1
Other Asian	3.6	9.2	9.8
White	24.4	48.4	57.7
Black	1.4	1.6	1.9
Hispanic/Latino	1.3	2.7	3.3
Multiracial & All Others	1.2	2.7	3.3
Population Size (x1000)	351.5	72.6	58.4

Please do visit the site for other ethnic groups, as the results are highly interesting.

The numbers indicate that Korean Americans regularly marry outside of their ethnicity, particularly if they were raised in the United States. It also shows that Korean Americans marry other Asian Americans at the rate of around 10 percent among U.S.-raised Korean Americans. One's definition of "common" may differ from person to person, but TK would say one out of ten is a fairly common occurrence.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

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