Explanatory Notes
Data on marriages presented in this release were obtained from marriage certificates registered at the Office of the City Municipal Civil Registrars throughout the country and forwarded to the Office of the Civil Registrar General for safekeeping. Figures presented include only those marriages occurring in 2000 and were registered from January 2000 to December 2001.
The number of reported marriages increases by 4.7 percent
A total of 577,387 (Table 1) marriages were solemnized in 2000, registering a 4.7-percent increase from the 551,445 marriages reported in 1999. This figure is 36.8 percent higher than the 422,041 marriages reported in 1990.
The National Capital Region (NCR) contributed the largest proportion with 105,548 or 18.3 percent of the total. Southern Tagalog followed with 92,964 or 16.1 percent. Central Luzon ranked next with 68,174 or 11.8 percent.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) contributed the smallest proportion with only 1,105 or 0.2 percent of the total.
Most couples marry in May
May, the month of festivities, was the most favored month for tying the knot in 2000 with 65,811 or 11.4 percent of the total. December with 63,168 or 10.9 percent and January with 62,677 or 10.9 percent ranked second and third, respectively.
June, the month perceived to have the most number of wedding ceremonies, was ranked at fourth with 55,679 or 9.6 percent. November was the least favorite month with only 31,910 or 5.5 percent.
The daily average marriage occurrence is 1,578
Marriage occurrences (Figure 2) on a per day basis in 2000 was 1,578. This means that one wedding ceremony was solemnized every minute in 2000.
Daily averages showed that all months surpassed the 1,000-mark-occurrence with August and November slightly above it at 1,058 and 1,064, respectively. Only the months of January, May, and December surpassed the 2,000-mark.
In terms of daily index, the months of January (128.2), April (105.4), May (134.6), June (117.6) and December (129.2) surpassed the 100.0 mark which is the level of national index.
Women tend to marry earlier than men
The median age at marriage for brides remained at 24 years old, while for grooms, it was 27.
The number of teenage brides (85,632 or 14.8 percent) was more than thrice the number of teenage grooms (23,069 or 4.0 percent). On the other end, the number of grooms aged 50 years old and over (19,176 or 3.3 percent) was more than twice the number of brides (9,365 or 1.6 percent) in the same age group.
More males remarry than females
Most marriages were between brides and grooms who tied the knot for the first time in their lives, numbering 565,022 or 97.9 percent of the total.
Remarriage was more common to males (9,741 or 1.7 percent) than for females (4,471 or 0.8 percent). It is also interesting to note that the number of males (7,578) who remarried and had brides who were single was more than thrice the number of females (2,313) who remarried with grooms who were single.
