WHILE more couples tied the knot last year, many Singaporeans are not marrying or marrying later in life.

In an update on the population trends in 2008, the National Population Secretariat (NPS) said there were 21,042 marriages involving at least one Singapore citizen last year, compared to 20,775 nuptials in 2007.

But the marriage rates for Singaporean men over the last decade fell from 47.9 married men per 1,000 unmarried men in 1998 to 42.1 last year.

The trend is similar for women, showing a decline from 49 to 39.3 married females per 1,000 unmarried women.

Over the last 10 years, Singaporeans are also marrying later, with the median age of first marriage rising from 28.3 to 29.7 years for men, and from 25.7 to 27.1 years for women.

The number of singles has also risen. Over 40 per cent of Singaporean men aged 30 to 34 years were single, while 29.4 per cent were women, compared to 33.3 per cent men and 21.6 per cent women in 1998. NPS said that such trends 'underpin the importance of facilitating socialising opportunities' for singles here so they could 'meet their desired partners early'.

The report also noted that with globalisation, more Singaporeans are also meeting desired partners from overseas.

The share of marriages involving citizens and non-citizens has increased over the past decade, rising to almost four in 10 in 2008 from three in 10 in 1998.

And among the married couples, they are having fewer children, noted NPS.

The report said that the average number of children born to ever-married female citizens aged 30 to 39 years declined to 1.58 children last year from 1.74 children in 1998.

Although the government has enhanced the marriage and parenthood package in 2008 to encourage a more pro-family environment in Singapore, NPS said it is still premature to gauge its effectiveness as it was only implemented last August.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.