More Singapore citizens are marrying non-citizens.
According to the National Population Secretariat, NPS, marriages
between citizens and non-citizens accounted for some 41 per cent of
all marriages involving Singaporeans last year.
This represented an increase of ten percentage points from
1999.
NPS which issued the "Population in Brief 2010" publication today,
said marriages between Singaporean men and non-Singaporean women
made up 78 per cent of all such marriages last year.
The majority of the non-Singaporean brides originated from Asia,
although non-Singaporean grooms came from more diverse
regions.
At the same time NPS says there are more unmarried
Singaporeans.
Overall, the general marriage rate for citizen males decreased from
53.1 per 1,000 unmarried males in 1999 to 41.5 in 2009, while that
for citizen females decreased from 56.0 to 38.2 over the same
period.
Among those aged 30-34, the proportion of singles last year was
significantly higher compared to 1999.
Singlehood rates were the highest among men with below secondary
educational qualifications and among women with university
qualifications.
Singaporeans who do get married are also doing so at a later
age.
Between 1999 and 2009, the median age of citizens at first marriage
increased by one and a half years from 28.4 to 29.9 years for
males, and from 25.9 to 27.4 years for females.
As Singaporeans get married later in life, they also start to have
children later.
The median age of citizen mothers at first birth increased from
28.6 years in 1999 to 29.6 years in 2009.
And they're having fewer children.
The decline was more pronounced among the younger cohorts aged
30-39 years.
Based on current trends, NPS said this group is less likely to
achieve an average of two children by the time they reach 40-49
years old.
It said the global recession in late 2008 could have contributed to
the decline in births in 2009, although the impact was smaller
compared to the past economic downturns.
Overall, the fertility rates for the prime childbearing age of
20-34 years declined between 1999 and 2009.
The peak childbearing age group also shifted from 25-29 to 30-34
years.
Singapore’s resident total fertility rate (TFR) reached a historic
low of 1.22 in 2009.
The Chinese continued to have the lowest TFR, followed by
Indians and Malays.
The TFR for Malays showed the most significant decline over the
past decade.
-- 938Live
