The average age of people getting married for the first time last year was 31.9 for men and 29.5 for women, up 0.9 years for men and 2.7 years for women from 10 years ago, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.
In terms of nationality, the average age of first marriages for foreign men from outside of “Greater China” and Southeast Asia who married Taiwanese was the highest at 37.1, followed by men from China, Hong Kong and Macau at 35.3, Taiwanese men at 33.7 and men from Southeast Asia at 33.1, the ministry said.
Women from China, Hong Kong and Macau registered the highest average age of first marriage at 32.3, followed by foreign women from outside of Greater China and Southeast Asia at 30.9, Taiwanese at 30.8 and Southeast Asians at 28.9.
From January to April, 48,929 couples were married, a decrease of 629, or 1.3 percent, from the same period of last year.
According to the statistics, 86.7 percent of the marriages registered in the first four months involved local citizens, while 13.3 percent involved foreign spouses (1 percentage point lower than the same period of last year). Among those marriages involving spouses from other countries and regions, those from China, Hong Kong and Macau accounted for the most, at 62 percent, followed by those from Southeast Asia at 22.4 percent and other countries at 15.5 percent.
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