Fewer people are getting married nowadays, while those who do are doing so at an older age, figures from last year released by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) showed.
“A total of 116,392 couples registered their marriages last year — 32,033, or 21.6 percent, less than in 2008,” the ministry said in a press statement. “The sharp decrease was due to the global economic recession and the impact of guluan nian [孤鸞年] last year.”
Traditionally, people believe that couples married during guluan nian — or “the year of the widow” — will have an unhappy marriage.
The MOI said last year marked the first time in 40 years that less than 200,000 people got married.
Besides the decrease in the number of people who were married last year, the ministry also found that grooms and brides were getting older.
“The average age of first-time grooms last year was 31.6 and 28.9 for first-time brides — half a year older than in 2008 for both groups,” the statement said.
While the half-year difference may not seem very significant, the ministry said that as many as 36.94 percent, or 35,280, of all first-time grooms last year were between the age of 30 and 34, with the 25 to 29 age group following with 35.48 percent of all first-time grooms.
Almost 44 percent, or 43,275, of first-time brides were aged between 25 and 29 last year, the ministry said.
By city and region, people in Taipei seemed to be marrying older, with the average age of first-time grooms at 35.7 and 32 years for first-time brides.
Commenting on the figures, Modern Women’s Foundation executive director Yao Shu-wen (姚淑文) said that while the “year of the widow” belief may have played a role in the drop in marriages last year, social change, economic pressure and high divorce rates all played a more important role.
“With high divorce rates, a lot of people are afraid of getting married,” Yao said. “Besides, people may worry about the economic burden they have to carry when they have a family of their own.”
“Especially when people are becoming more economically independent, they may be more hesitant to get married,” she said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
RSS