Taiwan saw a small increase in the number of mixed marriages last year despite an overall drop in the number of new marriages, the latest report released by the Ministry of the Interior said.
The report showed that 117,099 couples tied the knot last year, a decline of 24.4 percent from 2008, mainly because of the economic downturn and the belief that last year, dubbed a “lonely phoenix year,” was not favorable to marriages.
However, marriages between Taiwanese and Chinese (including Hong Kong and Macau) and other nationalities totaled 21,914, up 185, or 0.85 percent, from 2008.
The number of mixed marriages as a percentage of the total number of new marriages recorded last year was 18.71 percent, a rise of 4.68 percentage points from 2008.
After the government began requiring immigration interviews for Chinese spouses in September 2003 and other nationalities in 2005 in an effort to block marriages of convenience, the ratio of mixed marriages had been falling, reaching 14.03 percent in 2008, down from the peak of 31.9 percent in 2003, the ministry said.
Among the mixed marriages last year, 13,294, or 60.66 percent, involved a spouse from China, Hong Kong or Macau, and 8,620, or 39.34 percent, involved a spouse from other foreign countries, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Compared with 2008, the number of Chinese spouses saw the largest increase, by 522, or 4.3 percent.
Among the total of 18,241 non-Taiwanese brides recorded last year, 12,603 were from China, Hong Kong or Macau; 3,614 were from Vietnam; and 739 came from Indonesia.
Of the 3,673 non-Taiwanese grooms, 726 were from Japan; 698 hailed from the US; and 691 came from China, Hong Kong or Macau.
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