The Philippine Statistic Authority recently released data surrounding marriage in the country, showing an overall jump in the number of recorded marriages between 2016 and 2017, increasing from 419,628 to 434,932, constituting a 3.6 percent jump.

While most marriages in the country were recorded in Region IV-A, or Calabarzon, making up 13.4 percent of all marriages in 2017, Region VI, which came in fifth, saw a slight decrease in numbers, declining from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent.

Meanwhile, data also revealed nearly all marriages were between two Filipinos, leaving around 3.5 percent of marriages involving a foreign national. With regard to marriage to foreign nationals, Filipino grooms married Australians the most, with Chinese a close second; while Filipina brides primarily married Americans.

In addition, there were more marriages performed through civil ceremonies than Roman Catholic services./WDJ