Rising divorce rates and changing marriage trends observed in the latest government report.
In 2021, both marriages and divorces saw an upward trend in Singapore, with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions contributing to the rise. The Department of Statistics (DOS) reported that 28,329 civil and Muslim marriages were registered in 2021, reflecting a 25.1 per cent increase from 2020. Divorce rates also rose, with 7,890 marital dissolutions recorded, a 13.4 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Despite this increase, the rate of divorce in 2021 was still lower than in 2011, though the five-year average for the period between 2017 and 2021 was slightly higher than the average of 2012 to 2016.
Women continue to be the primary initiators of divorce, with 63.8 per cent of civil divorces in 2021 filed by women. This is a slight decrease from 2011, where women initiated 64.7 per cent of divorces. The leading reason for divorce among women in 2021 was “unreasonable behaviour,” while men most commonly cited “living apart or separated for three years or more.”
In terms of marriage trends, despite a rebound from the lower number of registrations in 2020, the five-year average for marriages from 2017 to 2021 remained lower than that of the preceding five years. Additionally, Singaporeans are delaying marriage, with the median age at first marriage now at 29.1 years for brides and 30.5 years for grooms, reflecting a trend of waiting longer before marrying.
The report also highlighted changes in marriage diversity. Of the civil marriages in 2021, 16.2 per cent were between individuals of different ethnicities, marking a continued decline in inter-ethnic marriages for the second consecutive year. At the same time, marriages between individuals with similar educational qualifications have risen, from 66.2 per cent in 2011 to 69.5 per cent in 2021. Furthermore, the proportion of marriages where the bride is more highly educated than the groom increased, from 17.5 per cent in 2011 to 18.2 per cent in 2021, while the reverse trend—higher-educated grooms marrying lower-educated brides—decreased from 16.3 per cent to 12.3 per cent over the same period.
