Registered marriages increased by 25.9 percent in 2022

In 2022, a total of 449,428 marriages were registered in the country, marking a 25.9 percent increase from the total registered marriages of 356,839 in 2021. Comparing with the number before the pandemic, an increase of 4.0 percent was observed from 2019 to 2022.

The crude marriage rate (CMR)¹ increased to 4.0 or 4 marriages per thousand population from 3.2 marriages per thousand population in 2021. On the average, a total of 1,231 marriages were solemnized daily. (Figure 1, and Tables 1 and 3)

Registered marriages highest in CALABARZON

Among the 17 regions, CALABARZON recorded the highest number of registered marriages with 63,838 or 14.2 percent of the total marriages. Two more regions with relatively large population reported a high number of registered marriages. The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the second highest number of marriages with 54,629 (12.2% share) followed by Central Luzon with 50,633 (11.3% share). These three regions collectively shared more than one-third (37.6%) of the total registered marriages in the country. The same regions also reported the highest number of registered marriages in 2021.

On the other hand, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) had the lowest number of registered marriages with only 3,432 or 0.8 percent of the total marriages in the country.

Meanwhile, the highest increase in registered marriages was observed in Cagayan Valley with 49.0 percent, from 12,799 in 2021 to 19,073 in 2022, whereas the Davao Region recorded the lowest at 8.4 percent. (Figure 2 and Table 2)

Most marriages occurred in December 

In 2022, December recorded the highest number of registered marriages with 55,599 or 12.4 percent of the total marriages in the country. The month of February ranked second with 52,426 (11.7% share), followed by the month of April with 44,600 (9.9% share). On the other hand, the month of November had the least number of registered marriages with 23,862 (5.3% share).

In terms of daily average, the months of February, December, April, March, and June recorded higher daily average compared to the national average of 1,231 marriages per day. Meanwhile, the month of November had the lowest daily average of 795 marriages per day. (Figure 3 and Table 3)

Majority of couples married between ages 25 to 29 years 

Of the total number of registered marriages in the country, about one in every five involved males and females were aged 25 to 29 (94,240 or 21.0% share). Around one in three men (159,988 or 35.6% share) married at these ages, and about the same proportion was observed for women (172,530 or 38.4% share). In 2022, the median age of marriage was 28 years old for women and 30 years old for men, which were one year older than last year (29 for males and 27 for females).

The number of men who are over 50 years of age (17,812 or 4.0% share) was twice than the number of women of the same age group (8,606 or 1.9% share). (Figure 4, and Tables 4 and 5)

Marriages involving adolescent females were four times as much as those involving adolescent males 

In 2022, a total of 16,809 (3.7% share) marriages involved adolescent females below 20 years old. This is four times than the number of marriages involving adolescent males (4,055 or 0.9% share). 

Meanwhile, registered marriages between adolescent males and females account for 2,315 or 0.5 percent of the total marriages in the country. Of the 16,809 adolescent females, 56.2 percent married men ages 20-24 years and 21.5 percent married men ages 25-29 years. (Table 5)

Most intermarriages were between Filipinos and American and Canadian nationals

There were 434,335 registered marriages (96.6% share) between Filipino men and women, while 14,704 marriages (3.3% share) were between Filipinos and foreign nationals. Among intermarriages with foreign nationals, a total of 13,733 Filipino women (93.4% share) married non-Filipino men, while 971 (6.6% share) Filipino men married women of foreign nationals. Another 385 marriages were between both foreign nationals while the remaining four marriages were with incomplete details on the citizenship of either male or female.

About one in three intermarriages were between Filipinos and American nationals (4,781 or 32.5% share), while marriages involving Filipinos and Canadian nationals accounted for 7.6 percent. 

The most number of intermarriages involving Filipino women were with American men (4,499 or 32.8% share), followed by Chinese (1,033 or 7.5% share), British (968 or 7.0% share), Canadian (960 or 7.0% share), and Japanese (732 or 5.3% share).

On the other hand, the highest number of intermarriages involving Filipino men were also with American women (282 or 29.0% share). Other nationalities of women who were married to Filipino men were Canadian (153 or 15.8% share), Japanese (89 or 9.2% share), Chinese (56 or 5.8% share),   and Australian (54 or 5.6% share). (Figures 5a and 5b, and Tables 6a and 6b)

Couples still preferred to be married in civil ceremony

Of the total registered marriages in 2022, 43.3 percent or 194,427 marriages were contracted through civil ceremony, a 3.7 percentage point increase from 2021 (39.6% share). About one-third (147,537 or 32.8% share) were officiated in Roman Catholic Church, while about one in four (99,279 or 22.1% share) were performed in other religious rites. Marriages solemnized in Muslim traditions accounted for 1.0 percent of the total registered marriages, whereas 0.8 percent were performed in tribal ceremonies. (Figure 6 and Table 7)

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, PhD 

Undersecretary

National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

¹Computed using the Updated Population Projections Based on the Results of 2015 POPCEN (https://psa.gov.ph/content/updated-population-projections-based-results-2015-popcen)