SINGAPORE — The number of couples who ended their marriages continued to rise, while fewer people got married last year compared to the year before, the latest data by the Singapore Department of Statistics (Singstat) showed.

There were 7,522 marriages that broke down in 2015: 2.9 per cent more than the 7,307 divorces and annulments in 2014.

The increase was due to more civil marriages ending, as Muslim divorce figures remained largely unchanged.

And even though there were more Muslim marriages over the same period (5,778, up from 5,544), the overall number of marriages registered fell marginally from 28,407 to 28,322.

This stemmed from the drop in the number of civil marriages from 22,863 to 22,544.

Commenting on the report released on Wednesday (July 13), the Minister for Social and Family Development, Tan Chuan-Jin, said in a blog post: “(It’s) good to know that the number of marriages are more or less at status quo.”

On the “slight increase” in divorce figures, he said: “It’s understandable that married couples may meet some bumps along the way. Sometimes, marriage counselling can help at an early stage, to soothe the tensions and save marriages.”

Couples married between five and nine years formed the largest group (31.5 per cent) filing for civil divorces last year, while couples married for nine years or fewer accounted for more than half (53.6 per cent) of Muslim divorces.

The top two reasons behind civil divorces were unreasonable behaviour and the couple having lived apart or separated for at least three years, while infidelity or an extra-marital affair was the most common reason for the breakup of Muslim marriages last year.

The statistics also showed that couples who split up last year were together for a median duration of 10 years. And the median age at divorce was 42.9 years for men and 38.8 years for women.

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the proportion of older couples getting divorced, Singstat reported.

Among men, the proportion of divorcees aged 45 and above rose from 30 per cent in 2005 to 42.4 per cent in 2015. Among women in the same age group, the proportion went up from 20.1 per cent to 27.5 per cent.

Noting that divorce is “never easy”, especially when young children are involved, Mr Tan said that the mandatory parenting programme — to take effect at the end of the year for divorcing couples with children below 14 years old — will allow parents to mull over separation issues.

“The programme will give them time and space to think deeply about issues they will face, both during and after divorce, and how they can protect their children’s interests will be emphasised in all they do,” he said.