The number of marriages between people with different nationalities in Penghu County increased more over the last six months than in any other county in Taiwan, according to statistics released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior.
"Most of the males in Penghu are fishermen. Because of the uncertainties concomitant in their work, they have problems marrying local girls," said Hu Liu-tsung (
According to Hu, there are 635 foreign wives and 406 brides of Chinese origin in Penghu. Of the foreign brides, 292 are Indonesian.
The agency said that there were 35.29 percent more international marriages, 69, in Penghu County over the past six months than over the same period last year when there were 51, while the number in Hualien County increased by 28.74 percent and Taoyuan County increased by 18.20 percent. The total rate of international marriages in Taiwan, however, decreased by about 2 percent compared to the same period last year. The rate in Chiayi City declined by 40 percent.
According to the ministry's statistics, 9,416 international marriages were registered in Taiwan over the past six months, which includes 8,105 couples in which the male was Taiwanese and 1,311 newly married couples in which the female was Taiwanese.
Up to the end of June, a grand total of 126,480 international marriages had been registered in Taiwan.
Of the foreign spouses in Taiwan, 10,414 are male, while 116,066 are female. The top three foreign nationalities of male spouses are Thai, Japanese and American, while the top three foreign nationalities of females are Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai.
"The trend toward international marriages in Taiwan shows that Taiwanese are more capable of either choosing or being chosen by foreign spouses," said Wu Shou-tsung (吳樹欉), an official from the MOI's Population Administration Department.
"The most urgent mission for the government is to help foreign spouses integrate into local society as soon as they can," Wu said.
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