SINGAPORE - Last year was a good year for tying the knot.

There were 24,037 marriages involving at least one Singapore citizen. According to the Population In Brief 2015 report, this is the most number of marriages since 1997.

A total of 24,195 marriages were recorded in 1997, according to the Department of Statistics.

In his book, The Population Of Singapore (Third Edition), Saw Swee Hock wrote that the 1997 figure was boosted by "couples rushing to marry to avoid paying the new $5,000 deposit introduced in May under the Fiance/Fiancee Scheme for Housing and Development Board apartments".

Also notable in the latest marriage statistics was the rise in inter-ethnic matches, which made up 20 per cent of the total figure. This is almost double the 12 per cent recorded in 2004, and reflects the diversity of Singapore's population.

Holding steadier was the proportion of transnational marriages at 37 per cent. This trend of transnational pairings comprising about a third of marriages here has held relatively steady in the past decade. It hit 36 per cent in 2004 and peaked at 41 per cent for three years in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

The median age at first marriage in 2014 was 30.1 for men and 27.9 for women, the same as in 2013.

The report also noted that the proportion of singles in their 30s and 40s has risen across education bands between 2009 and 2014.

The proportion of single men in their 30s rose from 29.2 per cent in 2004 to 35.8 per cent last year.

The proportion of single women in their 40s also rose from 13.7 per cent in 2004 to 16.2 per cent in 2014. But singlehood rates for women with secondary and above qualifications has dipped by between 1 and 4 percentage points.

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