The Vital Statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) based on civil registration showed that the Ilocos Region registered a decline of 4.5 percent in the number of registered marriages from January to December 2023 compared to the same period of 2022. The total number of registered marriages in the region was 23,501, which also accounted for 64 average daily registered marriages in 2023.

Registered Marriages by Month

The month of December recorded the highest number of registered marriages both for 2022 and 2023. The 3,470 registered marriages in December 2023 increased more than twice the number in November of the same year. Other than December, higher numbers of registered marriages compared to previous months were recorded during February, April, June, and October in 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, September (944) recorded the least number of registered marriages in 2023.

Registered Marriages by Province

The majority (58.0%) of the total marriages in Ilocos Region in 2023 were registered in Pangasinan. Meanwhile, the provinces of La Union and Ilocos Sur shared 15.5 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively, during the same year. On the other hand, the province of Ilocos Norte recorded the lowest percentage share (12.3%) of the 23,501 total registered marriages in the region.

On the other hand, all the provinces, except Ilocos Norte, recorded a decline in the number of registered marriages in 2023. Ilocos Sur, with 3,346 registered marriages had the highest percentage decrease at

9.7 percent. This accounted for 9 average daily registered marriages in 2023, from a daily average of 10 in the previous year.

Likewise, La Union recorded a 6.0 percent decline from 3,870 registered marriages in 2022 to 3,639 in 2023. This accounted for 10 average daily marriages, lower than the 11 average daily marriages in 2022.

The total number of registered marriages in the province of Pangasinan also decreased by 3.8 percent as it went down from 14,159 in 2022 to 13,626 in 2023. This accounted for 37 registered marriages per day in 2023, lower than the 39 daily average in 2022.

Meanwhile, the total registered marriages in the province of Ilocos Norte increased by 0.7 percent as it recorded 2,890 registered marriages in 2023. Hence, the average number of registered marriages remained at eight (8) per day.

SGD. ATTY. SHEILA O. DE GUZMAN
Regional Director, RSSO I