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THE
number of Filipinos getting married, particularly those
who seal their vows in church and in other religious
rites, has declined, according to data recently released
by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The NSO
said that in 2004 there were 582,281 marriages
solemnized which represented a 1.9-percent decline from
the 593,553 marriages reported in 2003.
The
crude marriage rate (CMR), or the rate at which couples
are marrying, was seven per thousand population in 2004.
This translated to about 1,591 marriages a day, less
than the 1,626 marriages a day in 2003.
Furthermore, the NSO said marriages solemnized in civil
rites that reached 276,233 or 47.4 percent of the total
was more than the number of marriages solemnized in
Catholic churches—212,236 or 36.4 percent of the total.
The NSO
said marriages solemnized under other religious rites
(90,122) was only 15.5 percent of the total, while
marriages under Islam and tribal rites comprised only
0.4 percent or around 2,108 and 0.2 percent or 1,118,
respectively, of total registered marriages.
Of the
total marriages in the country, 92,921 or 16 percent
occurred in the National Capital Region (NCR), followed
by those in Calabarzon at 76,800 or 13.2 percent and
Central Luzon’s 72,861 or 12.5 percent.
The
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) recorded the
least number of marriages with 2,624 or 0.5 percent of
the total registered marriages in the country. This, the
NSO said, marked a substantial increase of 27.5 percent
from 2,058 registered marriages in the region in 2003.
Meanwhile, Western Visayas posted the steepest decline
in marriages from 2003 to 2004 at 14 percent, followed
by the decrease in NCR and Davao at 7.7 percent and 5
percent, respectively.
Among
provinces, Negros Occidental had the highest decrease in
the number of marriages during the period to 10,597, or
a decline of 41.6 percent from 18,132 in 2003.
On the
other hand, NSO data showed that “June brides” and the
“Marry Month of May” are no longer in fashion among
Filipino couples scheduling their weddings. Instead,
more Filipinos are getting hitched during the peak of
the summer season, April.
Data
showed that for the first time in five years, April
turned out to be the most favored month for marriages
with a total of 65,168 marriages, or an average of 2,172
a day in 2004.
The
second-highest number of registered marriages was in
January with 65,150 marriages; while the month of May,
the top marrying month for four consecutive years, only
had 64,548 marriages or an average of 2,082 per day.
November, the NSO said, seemed to be a gloomy month,
registering the least number of marriages with 27,555
and the lowest daily average of 919 marriages.
Meanwhile, data also showed that more women marry
earlier than men. The median age for brides and grooms
were 24.7 and 27.4 years, respectively.
A total
of 228,936 or 39.3 percent of all the brides were aged
20 to 24 years while 191,708 or 32.9 percent of the
grooms were aged 25 to 29 years.
Further,
NSO data show that the number of teenage brides or those
18 to 19 years of age was four times greater than the
number of teenage grooms. There were around 77,038
teenage brides while there were about 18,246 teenage
grooms.
“The
recorded marriages of grooms 50 years old and over
numbered 19,707 while for brides it was 8,812. This
suggests that in this age group, most brides are younger
than the grooms,” the NSO added.
NSO data
also showed that many Filipino brides are getting
married for the first time. There were around 577,593 or
99.2 percent of the total number of brides getting
married for the first time, while there were only
570,609 grooms tying the knot for the first time.
Further,
the NSO said remarriage was more common among grooms
than brides. Data showed there were 11,499 grooms who
remarried in 2004, higher than 4,505 brides who were
marrying again.
There
were 5,928 male divorcees who remarried, much higher
than the 440 female divorcees. Remarriage was also more
common among widowers than widows. There were 5,530
widowers who got married during the period, higher than
the 4,059 widows. |
