The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Monday that fewer individuals in the Philippines are getting married.
The number of registered marriages in 2019 reached 431,972, lower than the total registered marriages of 449,169 in 2018, the report said.
In 2019, CALABARZON recorded the highest number of registered marriages which accounted for 13.9 percent of the total. It was followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) (12.4%) and Central Luzon (11.8%). These regions were consistently held the same positions since 2016.
Among all regions, only two (2) regions recorded an increase in registered marriages: Cagayan Valley (1.3%) and the Ilocos Region (1.0%).
Meanwhile, declines in the registered marriages during the period were noted in 15 regions, wherein the highest decrease of -17.0 percent was observed in ARMM, followed by SOCCSKSARGEN (-13.7%), and NCR (-7.6%).
The PSA also reported that most couples in the Philippines get married in December.
Almost half or 44.9 percent of the total number of marriages in 2019 occurred in December (12.0%), February (11.5%), May (11.1%), and April (10.3%). Meanwhile, other months contributed less than 10.0 percent each of the total registered marriages, with November having the least contribution of only 5.0 percent of the total.
Fewer people in Philipines are getting married – PSA
The report also showed women in the Philippines married younger than men. In 2019, the median age of marriage, or the age at which half of the population was younger/older upon marriage, was 27 years old for women and 29 years old for men. Moreover, the median age of marriage for both sexes was the same since 2017.
Meanwhile, most men and women in the Philippines married between ages 25-29 years old
In 2019, about one in every three married between ages 25-29 years old, in which men and women comprise 36.5 percent and 36.2 percent, respectively, of the total number of recorded marriages.
There were 416,542 marriages (96.4%) between Filipino men and women. On the other hand, 15,047 marriages (3.5%) were Filipino nationals married to foreign nationals composed of 89.3 percent men and 10.7 percent foreign women.
Among foreign nationals, the highest number of intermarriages that involved Filipino men were marriages with American women (16.6%), followed by Australian (14.0%), Canadian (12.3%), Chinese (7.2%), and Japanese(7.1%).
On the other hand, the highest number of intermarriages with Filipino women was marriages with American men (26.8%), followed by Japanese (10.6%), British (6.6%), Korean (6.3%), and Canadian (5.7%) men.
Source: PSA