KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's divorces surged 43.1 percent to 62,890 in 2022, official data showed Thursday.
In tandem with the increase in the number of divorces, the general divorce rate for males in the country increased from 6.1 in 2021 to 8.7 per thousand population of married males aged 18 years and over, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a note.
A similar trend was also observed for females, increasing from 6.2 to 8.9 per thousand population of married females aged 16 years and over.
Meanwhile, the number of marriages in Malaysia was 214,824 in 2022, a decrease of 0.5 percent as compared to 215,973 in 2021.
The median age for grooms remained at 28 years in 2022 while the median age for brides increased to 27 years as compared to 26 years in 2021.
Overall general marriage rate for grooms decreased from 46 to 45.3 per thousand population of unmarried males aged 18 years and over.
A similar trend was also recorded for brides, which decreased from 47.6 to 47.1 per thousand population of unmarried females aged 16 years and over. ■
