There were 68,746 marriages in the country in the first six months of the year, about 11 percent more than during the same period last year, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday.
The ministry said the number of marriages between two Taiwanese citizens rose by 7,322, or 14 percent, in the first half of this year, while the number of marriages involving one Taiwanese and one foreign national was 497, or 4.5 percent, lower than during the same period last year.
DOWN
The cross-border marriages — 10,460 in the first six months — accounted for about 15 percent of marriages, down 2.5 percent from the same period last year. The incidence of such marriages hit a peak of 32 percent in 2003.
Of the cross-border marriages, 63 percent involved spouses from China (including Hong Kong and Macau). Just over 70 percent of the foreign brides (72.5 percent) were from China, while 15 percent were from Vietnam. Among foreign grooms, 21 percent were from China, while 18.4 percent were from Japan and 18.2 percent from the US.
RECESSION
The ministry said that because of the global economic recession and the impact of guluan nian (孤鸞年) last year, only 117,099 couples were married in 2009, the lowest number recorded.
People traditionally believe that couples married during a guluan year — or “the year of the widow” — will have an unhappy marriage.
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