Number of marriages falls despite incentives

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/number-marriages-falls-despite-incentives?singlepage=true

Despite the enhanced incentives to nudge Singaporeans towards tying the knot and having children, the number of marriages fell last year for the first time in three years.

There were 26,254 marriages — civil and Muslim — last year, down 6 per cent from 2012, despite the rise in the number of Muslim marriages.

On the other hand, more couples went their separate ways, with divorces and annulments rising 4 per cent to 7,525 last year.

The top reasons for divorce were unreasonable behaviour in civil marriages and infidelity or extra-marital affairs for Muslim divorces.

The figures released by the Department of Statistics yesterday also showed that more Singaporeans are delaying marriage.

Marriage rates fell among those aged below 30 years last year, compared with a decade ago, but rose for those aged 30 and above.

The trend of delayed marriages will continue as more young Singaporeans are focusing on their careers first, said Dr Paulin Straughan, a National University of Singapore sociologist.

But the dip could also be due to perceptions of auspicious years to marry, said Ms Anita Fam, a Families for Life council member.

Auspicious dates in 2011 and 2012 saw a surge of couples rushing to marry on 11/11/11 and 12/12/12, causing the number of marriages to jump to 27,258 and 27,936 respectively, compared with 24,363 marriages in 2010.