SINGAPORE - The number of marriages and divorces rose sharply last year, after the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 disrupted both nuptials and break-ups.

The unpredictable shifts in the number of guests allowed at weddings in 2020 and the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic were why many couples postponed their weddings to last year, said marriage solemnisers and couples interviewed.

Meanwhile, pandemic-related stresses which exacerbated long-simmering marital woes could have also led more couples to divorce last year, said lawyers and counsellors interviewed. 

A total of 28,329 couples wed last year - a 25.1 per cent jump from the 22,651 in 2020.

Some 7,890 couples dissolved their marriages last year, meaning they either divorced or annulled their marriage. This was a 13.4 per cent increase from the 6,959 marital dissolutions in 2020.

The Department of Statistics released the 2021 Marriage and Divorce Statistics on Wednesday (July 6) morning. 

Marriage solemniser Joanna Portilla said many of the couples she wed last year postponed their weddings from 2020.

Some couples did so to invite more guests to their wedding, given that as few as a maximum of 10 people were allowed at a solemnisation in the immediate aftermath of Singapore exiting the circuit breaker, which lasted from April 7 to June 1 in 2020.

Besides, most of the solemnisations scheduled during the Circuit Breaker period had to be postponed, as couples were not allowed to solemnise their marriages in person, except if they were successful on appeal. 

Meanwhile, the proportion of inter-ethnic marriages fell for the second consecutive year from 18.2 per cent of all marriages in 2020 to 16.2 per cent in 2021.

Dr Mathew Mathews, head of the Institute of Policy Studies Social Lab, said the fall in inter-ethnic marriages could be due to border restrictions and limited travel opportunities during the pandemic that hindered couples from registering their marriage here as many of such marriages are between a Singaporean and a foreigner.

The Department of Statistics attributed the increase in marital dissolutions to more divorce applications filed last year and the resumption of divorce proceedings that were previously adjourned due to the pandemic.

During the circuit breaker in 2020, the Family Justice Courts heard only "urgent and essential" cases, such as those that constituted a threat to life and liberty or were time sensitive, said family lawyers interviewed. All other hearings were adjourned to after the circuit breaker.

Lawyers said the pandemic and work-from-home arrangements also forced families to stay together physically for extended periods, which intensified pre-existing problems for some couples.

Lawyer Dorothy Tan said: “Issues that were previously swept under the carpet, for example feeling that one party was not contributing enough to running the household or caring for the children, became more apparent.”

For some couples, monetary woes caused by the pandemic, such as retrenchment or pay cuts, added to marital tension and could led more couples to call it quits, said lawyer Ivan Cheong.

However, the DOS noted that while the number of marital dissolutions rose last year, the general divorce rate was still lower than a decade ago.

For example, there were 7.2 male divorcees for every 1,000 married men aged 20 and older last year (2021), down from 7.6 such men in 2011.

Mr Tijoe Samuel Nugroho, a 31-year-old dealer, wed Ms Hosanna Petra Harsono, a 30-year-old project manager last year (2021). They are both Indonesians and Singaporean permanent residents.

The pair met in church and began dating in 2017. They started to plan their wedding in August 2020, thinking that the pandemic would be more or less over by their September 2021 wedding date. 

Ms Harsono said: “It was stressful because our plans kept changing with the different safe management measures.”

And some of their loved ones living in Indonesia could not come to Singapore for their wedding due to travel restrictions.

She said: “For us, a wedding is a one-time event while marriage is lifelong. So even if it was troublesome to plan the wedding, we wanted to get it over with because we were excited to be married.”

This article has been edited for clarity.