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Release Date :
Reference Number :
2022-06

Explanatory Note

Data on marriages presented in this release were obtained from the timely and late registered marriages at the Office of the City/Municipal Civil Registrars throughout the country and submitted to the Office of the Civil Registrar General through the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Provincial Statistical Offices (PSOs). Information presented includes marriages that occurred from January to December 2020 (cut-off date is as of 16 July 2021 on the submission of encoded data files to the PSA-Central Office from PSOs). Figures presented herein are not adjusted for under registration. Marriages of Filipinos abroad which were reported to the Philippine Foreign Service Posts are presented in a separate report.

Lowest marriages registered over the past 50 years

The number of registered marriages in 2020 only reached 240,775, it declined by -44.3 percent compared with the total registered marriages of 431,972 in 2019. This was also the lowest number of marriages since 1970. (Figure 1, and Tables 1 and 2)

Top three regions with the highest number of recorded marriages: CALABARZON, NCR, and Central Luzon

In 2020, CALABARZON recorded the highest number of registered marriages, which accounted for 32,822 or 13.6 percent of the total. It was followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 32,689 or 13.6 percent, and Central Luzon with 28,183 or 11.7 percent. These regions comprised nearly 40 percent (38.9%) of the total registered marriages in the country. The same regions also registered the highest number of marriages and maintained their respective ranks in 2019. (Figure 2 and Table 2)

February recorded the most number of marriages and April registered less than a thousand marriages

Most of the marriages in 2020 occurred in February at 44,349 (18.4%) or a daily average of 1,529 marriages per day. This was followed by the months of December (16.3%) and January (15.5%). On the other hand, April recorded the least number of marriages at only 866 (0.4%) or an average of 29 marriages per day, while the month of May accounted for the second least number of registered marriages with 4,135 (1.7%). The low number of marriages in these two months were due to the quarantine measures implemented throughout the country. (Figure 3 and Table 3)

Women married younger than men

In 2020, the median age of marriage, or the age at which half of the population were younger/older upon marriage, was 27 years old for women and 29 years old for men. The median ages were the same as in the previous year. (Table 4)

Marriages involving adolescent girls were four times than that of adolescent boys

In 2020, more than four percent of females (10,485 or 4.4%) in their teenage years were married, a decrease of -56.2 percent from 2019 (23,928 or 5.5%). About the same decrease was also observed in marriages involving teenage males in the past year. A total of 2,526 (1.0%) were married in 2020, lower by -53.9 percent than in 2019 (5,479 or 1.3%). More than half (5,746 or 54.8%) of teenage females married men in ages 20-24, and two out of ten (2,387 or 22.8%) married men aged 25-29 years. Meanwhile, registered marriages between teenage men and women account for 0.6 percent or 1,505 of the total marriages in the country. (Figure 4, and Tables 4 and 5)

Most marriages between Filipinos and non-Filipinos involved American and Japanese nationals

There were 235,785 marriages (97.9%) between Filipino men and women, while 4,837 marriages (2.0%) were between Filipinos and foreign nationals. Among intermarriages with foreign nationals, a total of 4,500 Filipino women (93.0%) married non-Filipino men, while 337 (7.0%) Filipino men married women of foreign nationals. (Table 6a)

Intermarriages between Filipinos and American nationals registered the highest number with 1,193 or 24.7 percent of the total. This was followed by marriages involving Filipinos and Japanese nationals with 353 or 7.3 percent share to the total. Other nationalities of men and women who were married to Filipinos were Canadian (336 or 6.9%), Chinese (317 or 6.6%), and Indian (267 or 5.5%). (Figure 5 and Table 6b)

Most Filipino females in intermarriages were married to American nationals (25.0%), followed by Japanese (6.8%), Canadian, and Chinese (6.5% each) nationals. On the other hand, one in five Filipino males married Americans (20.2%), while 14.2 percent and 13.4 percent married Japanese and Canadian nationals, respectively. (Figures 6a and 6b, and Table 6b)

Five out of ten marriages contracted through civil ceremony

About half (49.8%) of the total registered marriages in 2020 were contracted through civil ceremony, an 11.2 percentage point increase from 2019 (38.6%). About one in four marriages were officiated in Roman Catholic Church (67,233 or 27.9%). On the other hand, marriages solemnized in Muslim traditions comprised 1.3 percent of the total. Moreover, 0.9 percent were performed in tribal ceremonies while the remaining one in five marriages were performed in other religious rites (48,155 or 20.0%). (Figure 7 and Table 7)

 

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

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PDF Special Release 457.73 KB
Excel spreadsheet Textual Tables of the Special Release 31.81 KB
Excel spreadsheet Statistical Tables 371.49 KB

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