WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Singapore registers increases in marriages, newborns
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-13 15:43

SINGAPORE -- Singapore registered increases in numbers of both marriages and babies born in 2008, local media reported on Friday.

According to a report published on Friday's Straits Times, the latest figures from the Department of Statistics showed that 24,596 couples were married in 2008, the highest number since 1999, when there were 25,653 couples getting married.

The report said the marriage number across the main ethnic groups, namely Chinese, Malays and Indians stayed "fairly consistent", while the marriage number of "others" ethnicity surge 40 percent to 1,172 in 2008 from 840 the previous year.

There were 39,935 babies born in Singapore in 2008, the highest number since 2002, when the number was 40,760.

The report said the increases in marriages and babies are mainly due to an influx of foreigners in recent years.