Fewer People Getting Married & Divorced in 2020 Due to COVID-19 Disruptions

For people who had been planning to get married, or even worse, had already set a date for their wedding, the past one and a half years have probably been especially frustrating.

I mean, just imagine telling your younger self this: hey, so your future wedding is going to be held through a video call. No fairytale setting, unfortunately, sorry! 

Cue the tears.

COVID-19 Strikes Again: Fewer Marriages in 2020 Due to COVID-19

On Wednesday (7 July), the Department of Statistics (DOS) Singapore released a press release on the statistics on marriages and divorces in 2020.

In its press release, the agency announced that there had been fewer couples in Singapore who got married last year due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total number of marriages registered last year was 22,651 marriages. This was a 10.9 per cent reduction from 2019, when a total of 25,434 marriages were registered.

According to the DOS, “This was due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including circuit breaker restrictions and safe management measures applied to wedding solemnisations and receptions from March 2020”.

Yeah, getting married in the middle of a pandemic must be gloomy, to say the least.

Last year, Singapore implemented a circuit breaker that lasted from 7 April to 1 June in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As a result of the drop in marriage registrations last year, the annual average number of marriages in the last five years was 26,255—a number lower than the annual average of 27,635 marriages registered between 2011 and 2015.

General Marriage Rate Drops in 2020 

According to statistics released by the DOS, the general marriage rate for men and women also fell in 2020, compared to a decade ago.

The general marriage rate for men was 35.7 marriages per thousand unmarried men aged 15 to 49 in 2020, down from 39.3 in 2010.

The general marriage rate for women was 34.9 marriages per thousand unmarried women aged 15 to 49 in 2020, down from 35.3 in 2010, albeit just slightly.

Statistics also show that the median age at first marriage for both men and women have risen. The median age at first marriage rose from 30 years old to 30.4 years old for men between 2010 and 2020, while that for women rose from 27.7 years old to 28.8 years old.

The age gap between couples in their first marriage has also narrowed over the past decade, according to the DOS.

In 2020, 42.1 per cent of couples in their first marriage were either of the same age or aged one year apart, up from 35.4 per cent in 2010. Another 18.1 per cent of couples in their first marriage were aged two years apart in 2020, up from 15.5 per cent in 2010,

“Couples who were aged at least five years apart decreased to 19.2 per cent in 2020, from 28.3 per cent in 2010,” said the DOS.

Fewer Divorces in 2020, Also Due to COVID-19

Though there have been fewer divorces, there have also been fewer marriages.

Last year, there had been a total of 6,959 marriages that ended in divorce or annulment. This was an 8.7 per cent drop compared to the 7,623 marriages which ended in divorce or annulment in 2019.

The annual average number of marital dissolutions between 2016 and 2020 was 7,424, a number slightly lower than the annual average of 7,439 from 2011 to 2015.

Of all the divorces in 2020, couples who were married for five to nine years accounted for the largest share at 29.4 per cent.

Statistics also show that the general divorce rate also fell for both men and women in 2020, compared to a decade ago.

The general divorce rate for men was 6.3 divorcees for every thousand married men aged 20 years and over in 2020, down from 7.5 in 2010. Meanwhile, the general divorce rate for women was 6.1 divorces for every thousand married men aged 20 years and over in 2020, down from 7.2 in 2010.

According to the DOS, the median age at divorce has also risen over the last decade. The median age at divorce for men was 43.2 years old in 2020, up from 41 years old in 2010.

For women, the median age at divorce was 39.5 years old in 2020, an increase from 37.4 years old in 2010.

The median duration of marriage for divorces have also shortened, from 10.6 years in 2010 to 10.4 years in 2020.

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