SINGAPORE - There were more divorces and annulments last year, even as fewer couples tied the knot, according to the Statistics on Marriages and Divorces 2013 report released on Tuesday.

There were 7,525 divorces and annulments in 2013, a 4 per cent increase from 2012. About 26,250 couples wed last year, a 6 per cent drop from the year before, when marriages here hit a 50-year high.

While the number of Muslim marriages went up, overall registered marriages declined, due to fewer civil marriages. This was the first year that the number of marriages fell after rising in the previous two years.

The Singapore Department of Statistics had started the collection of divorce statistics in 1981 and started keeping track of educational qualification of marriage partners in 1984. The full report can be found at www.singstat.gov.sg/publications/publications_and_papers/marriages_and_…