Behind Singapore’s troubled marriages
A larger proportion of those who marry young, have a lower education or are re-marrying have ended their marriages
More couples here are seeking help to save their troubled marriages, and this is one key reason why a smaller share of those who wed in recent years have officially split, marital counsellors interviewed say.
For example, the proportion of marriages that dissolved before the 10th wedding anniversary was 17 per cent for resident couples who wed in 2005, compared with 14.5 per cent for those who wed in 2011.
A marriage can be dissolved through divorce or an annulment. With resident couples, at least one party is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident.
These are the marriage cohorts coloured according to whether they had a larger or smaller share of dissolved marriages before the 10th anniversary, compared to the average.
A smaller proportion of marriages are making it to the 10th year mark in recent cohorts. Those who wed after 1997 have a larger share of dissolved marriages.
Resident couples who wed in 2005 have the largest share of dissolved marriages.
However, recent cohorts such as those who wed in 2011 have had a smaller share of dissolved marriages, and a key reason for this is marital counselling, counsellors say.
Marital counsellors interviewed say they are seeing more couples seeking help to work through the problems in their relationship, as the stigma associated with counselling has eased over the years, and there is also greater awareness about the benefits of marital counselling. The various agencies contacted declined to provide figures on their marital case numbers.