KUALA LUMPUR, November 25 ― Malaysia recorded an increase in marriages last year as compared with 2020, according to the new data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) today.

The data, which was published via DoSM Twitter, also showed that divorce rate decreased.

Higher number of marriages in 2021

The statistic department said that number of marriages here increased by 15.4 per cent, from 186,297 marriages in 2020 to 214,943 in 2021.

The stats also revealed that Malaysia recorded a highest "crude marriage rate (CMR)” of 6.7 since 2016, where in every one thousand people, 6.7 individuals are getting married.

For Muslim marriage, the data shows an increase of 21.0 per cent where 176,002 marriages were registered in 2021 as compared to 145,443 marriages in 2020.

The CMR for Muslim marriages also recorded a highest score with 8.5 per cent in 2021 as compared with the last six years.

However, non-Muslim marriages declined by 4.7 per cent, from 40,854 (3.5 CMR) in 2020, to 38,941 (3.3 CMR) in 2021.

Median age for bride and groom remains the same

Meanwhile, as a whole, the median age for brides remained the same for both 2020 and 2021 at 26 years of age, while the median age for grooms also remained the same for both periods, at 28 years of age.

In 2021, Muslim men were getting married at a median age of 27, while Muslim women were doing so at a median age of 26.

The median age in the same year for non-Muslim grooms and non-Muslim brides was 30 and 28 respectively.

As a whole, women had a higher incidence of marriage than men in 2021, with 47.4 of them getting married per 1,000 unmarried women aged 16 and over.

Men were getting married at a rate of 45.8 per 1,000 unmarried men aged 18 and over.

Divorces dropped in 2021

The number of divorces dropped by 7.1 per cent from 47,272 in 2020 to 43,934 in 2021.

The crude divorce rate (CDR) decreased from 1.5 per 1,000 people in 2020, to 1.4?per 1,000 people in 2021.

The number of Muslim divorces also dropped by 16.4 per cent in 2021 with only 31,650 cases recorded as compared with 37,853 in 2020.

The CDR decreased from 1.8 (2020) to 1.5 (2021) per thousand Muslim population.

However, Non-Muslim divorces increased 30.4 per cent from 9,419 (0.8 CDR) in 2020 to 12,284 (1.1 CDR) in 2021.