B U L L E T I N M E N S U E L D ’ I N F O R M AT I O N D E L’ I N S T I T U T N AT I O N A L D ’ É T U D E S D É M O G R A P H I Q U E S CONTENTS S ome developed countries in East Asia, notably Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, hold multiple demographic records: very low fertility, rapid population ageing and high female singlehood rates. However, another emerging trend is currently transforming these societies: the rapid increase in immigration. In 2008, a quarter of the world stock of 214 million international migrants lived in Asia, including 15 million in East Asia [1]. In this region, a proportion of them are women who migrated to get married. In countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, which do not encourage immigration, these women constitute the largest group of new migrants, with the exception of foreign temporary workers (see Box). The majority come from China and Southeast Asia, notably from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In receiving countries, they are referred to as “foreign brides” and represent a distinct category in the statistics on foreigners. A sharp increase in marriages with foreign women Since the early 1990s, a growing number of East Asian single men have been seeking wives abroad. In Taiwan, the number of marriages to foreign-born women rose from a few thousand per year in the early 1990s, to almost 50,000 per year in 2003 (Figure 1). A similar increase occurred in South Korea, with almost 30,000 marriages In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where it is dificult for some men to ind a spouse in their home country, a growing number of wives are brought in from abroad. Immigration of this kind has developed rapidly in recent years. Danièle Bélanger explains the reasons behind this inlux of foreign women and its demographic consequences. Marriages with foreign women in East Asia: bride traficking or voluntary migration? Danièle Bélanger * Editorial – Marriages with foreign women in East Asia: bride traficking or voluntary migration? • A sharp increase in marriages with foreign women - p. 1 • Differences in male and female expectations - p. 2 • Go-betweens: family networks and match- making agencies - p. 3 • Bride traficking or voluntary migration? - p. 3 • Integration problems of migrant women - p. 4 • An increasingly diversiied popu- lation - p. 4 Box – Migrant labour in East Asia: temporary foreign workers with few rights - p. 3 * University of Western Ontario, Canada 10,000 0 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 INED 064A10 Taiwan South Korea Japan Figure 1 - Numbers of marriages between a Taiwanese, Japanese or South Korean man and a foreign spouse, by year of marriage Sources: National statistical of ices. in 2005, representing 10% of total marriages in the country (Figure 2). Despite a decline in recent years, these unions still represent a non-negligible proportion of marriages (15% in Taiwan in 2009 and 8% in South Korea). The decrease observed in Taiwan in the mid (D. Bélanger, Population & Societies, 469, INED, July-August 2010) POPULATION SOCIETIES & No. 469 JULY-AUGUST 2010