Explanatory Notes
The information presented herein was obtained from the marriage certificates (Municipal Form No. 97) submitted by the City/Municipal Registrars from all over the country to the Office of the Civil Registrar General for processing and archiving purposes. There was no adjustment for underregistration in the presentation
Marriages in 2006 decrease by 5.0 percent
Registered marriages in 2006 numbered 492,666. This was lesser by 25,929 marriages or 5.0 percent from the 2005 figure of 518,595.
All regions exhibited a decline in the number of marriages except for Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), MIMAROPA and SOCCSKSARGEN. The highest slope down was recorded by both Bicol Region and CARAGA at negative 11.4 percent. .
Registered marriages highest in NCR
The highest number of registered marriages was recorded by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 80,154 or 16.3 percent of the national total. NCR was followed by CALABARZON with 62,928 (12.8%) and Central Luzon with 62,779 (12.7%). Meanwhile the highest increase in registered marriages was in SOCCSKSARGEN at 2.7 percent or up by 470 from the 2005 figure.
On the other hand, the smallest number of registered marriages was in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and CAR with only 2,458 (0.5%) and 9,774 (2.0%) of the total registered marriages, respectively in 2006.
Most marriages occur in May
In 2006, most couples preferred to marry during the month of May. There were a total of 56,564 marriages or 1,825 marriages per day that were reported to have been solemnized during the said month. Second in rank was the month of December with 53,683 registered marriages followed closely by January with 53,161 ceremonies. On the other hand, the month of August appeared to be the least preferred month as it recorded the lowest number of marriages at 26,271.
The months of January, February, April, May, June and December showed a higher daily average and daily index of marriages compared to the national average.
Women prefer to marry at ages 20-24 while men at ages 25-29
In 2006, two out of every five brides at ages of 20-24 got married. Said age group in women recorded 186,313 (37.8%) out of the 492,666 marriages. Their second most likely choice for settling down was at ages 25-29 with 137,375 (27.9%).
It was also learned that there were 68,446 young ladies (13.9%) who became brides before they reached the age of 20 years. Meanwhile, there were 7,087 (1.4%) women who married their partners were 50 years old and over.
As expected, men preferred to enter married life at an older age than women. In 2006, 169,559 (34.4%) grooms aged 25-29 years old tied knots with their brides.
Moreover, the number of men (17,870 or 3.6%) marrying at age 50 years old and above was more than double than the number of women (7,087 or 1.4%) of the same age group.
Median age for brides is 24.8 while for grooms is 27.5.
Almost half of marriages get solemnized through civil rites
Records of marriages celebrated through civil rites in 2006 totaled 214,386. The number is almost half (43.5%) of the 492,666 total marriages reported to have taken place during the year.
Wedding ceremonies performed by solemnizing officers of the Roman Catholic Church was the second highest with 185,616 or 37.7 percent of the total reported marriages.
On the extreme end, reports on tribal marriages had the least number and comprised only of 1,278 (0.3 %) of the total.
