1 Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM)

The singulate mean age at marriage (SMAM) refers to the average length of a single life expressed in years among those who marry before 50 years old. Figure 3.1a, b show that increasingly more men and women in the region are marrying later, although there are also indications in recent years that some choose to marry earlier.

Fig. 3.1
figure 1

a SMAM for females in Southeast Asia, around 1970–2010, b SMAM for males in Southeast Asia, around 1970–2010. Source UN World Marriage Data 2012, accessed on 26 October 2016. Notes “Around 1970” data for Brunei and Indonesia refer to 1971, for Myanmar to 1973. “Around 1985” data for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore refer to 1980, for Brunei to 1981, for Myanmar to 1983, for Vietnam to 1989. “Around 1995” data for Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore refer to 1990, for Brunei, Malaysia and Myanmar to 1991, for Cambodia to 1998, for Vietnam to 1999. “Around 2005” data for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore refer to 2000, for Brunei to 2001, for Timor-Leste to 2004, for Myanmar and Vietnam to 2007, for Cambodia to 2008. Latest data for Philippines refer to 2007, and for Timor-Leste and Vietnam to 2009. Data for all other years refer to the actual year indicated in the chart

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Countries such as Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and Lao PDR show a rise in SMAM across genders, with males generally marrying two to three years older than females. Historically, Singaporeans marry at the latest age in the region regardless of gender and they marry two to three years later than their Burmese and Malaysian counterparts. However, the trend for Myanmar illustrates a faster rise in SMAM compared to Singapore. In 40 years, Myanmar’s SMAM for women rose by 4.8 years compared to Singapore’s 3.7 years (Fig. 3.1a). The rise in SMAM for Myanmar was even faster for men with a 3.7-year increase in 3.5 decades compared to Singapore’s 2.6 years in four decades (Fig. 3.1b). It is interesting to note that these two countries have the highest SMAMs in the region and show similar trends despite very different levels of economic development, educational attainment among its population, religious and ethnic composition, and women’s labour force participation rate suggesting that the relationship of these elements with marriage is more complex than what is conventionally understood.

Thailand has also been showing a steady and steep increase in SMAM for men, with a rise of 2.7 years in more than three decades, around 1.1 years higher than what the Philippines has experienced in four decades. Within the same period, the same trend was observed for women where Thailand’s SMAM increased by 2.1 years, about 0.5 years higher than the Philippines’ 1.6-year increase.

The rising age at marriage was also evident in Lao PDR. The latest data show that for men, SMAM increased from 23.9 in 1995 to 24.7 in 2005 (Fig. 3.1b); while for women, SMAM increased from 21.2 to 21.7 within the same period (Fig. 3.1a). Among the cluster of countries with rising SMAM, Lao PDR has the youngest age at marriage (based on around 2005 data) with women marrying at 21.7 and men marrying at 24.7, approximately five years younger than in Singapore.

In contrast to the general trend of rising SMAM, several countries in the region have started to show a recent trend in marrying early across genders, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Incidentally, men and women from Vietnam and Cambodia are also the youngest to marry in the region. While Vietnam recorded a 1.8-year increase in male SMAM in 40 years from 1970 to 2010, data show that Vietnamese men have been marrying 0.4 years younger in 2010 than in 2005. Its female SMAM however tells a different story with no major fluctuations, recording only a 0.4-year decrease in 40 years.

In Malaysia and Timor-Leste, the consistent trend of marrying later was only observed among women, while men were observed to marry by 0.1 (Malaysia) to 0.6 years (Timor-Leste) earlier within the 2005–2010 period. Malaysia has one of the highest SMAM among women in the region with 25.7 years, almost three years later than Timor-Leste’s 23.1 years. Malaysia’s rise in female SMAM was also relatively steep, with 3.6 years in a 40-year period which is very close to Singapore’s experience. Brunei’s female SMAM trend also increased by about three years within 25 years but was stalled from 1995 to 2005, while the rise in SMAM for men has been ongoing for the past 35 years.

2 Singlehood

Singlehood rates have been rising in Southeast Asia for the past three decades as measured by the proportion of single women (Fig. 3.2a, b) and men (Fig. 3.3a, b) in their 30s. Some deviations from the trend have been noted, however; such as in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Lao PDR where singlehood rates have declined recently. In Vietnam, the proportion of never-married women within the 2000–2010 period decreased significantly by 4.8 percentage points for the 30–34 age group and by 1.6 percentage points for the 35–39 age group; while in Indonesia, a 1 percentage point decrease for single women in the 30–34 age group was noted, and in Lao PDR, a 0.8 percentage point drop among men in the 35–39 age group. All three countries’ female singleness rates in 2010 were below 4%.

Fig. 3.2
figure 2

a Singlehood rate among female 30–34-year-olds in Southeast Asia, 1980–2010, b singlehood rate among female 35–39-year-olds in Southeast Asia, 1980–2010. Source UN World Marriage Data 2015 accessed on 11 October 2016. Notes For Brunei, data for 1980 are actually from 1981, for 1990 from 1991; for Cambodia, data for 2000 from 1998, for 2010 from 2008; for Lao PDR, data for 1990 from 1995, for 2010 from 2011; for Malaysia, data for 1990 from 1991; for the Philippines, data for 1990 from 1993; for Timor-Leste, data for 2000 from 2003, for 2010 from 2009; and, for Vietnam, data for 1980 from 1988, for 1990 from 1997. Data for all other years represent the actual year indicated in the chart

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Fig. 3.3
figure 3

a Singlehood rate among male 30–34-year-olds in Southeast Asia, 1980–2010, b singlehood rate among male 35–39-year-olds in Southeast Asia, 1980–2010. Source UN World Marriage Data 2015 accessed on 11 October 2016. Notes For Brunei, data for 1980 is actually from 1981, for 1990 from 1991; for Cambodia, data for 1990 from 1998, for 2000 from 2004, for 2010 from 1008; for Lao PDR, data for 1990 from 1995, for 2010 from 2011; for Malaysia, data for 1990 from 1991; for Myanmar, data for 1980 from 1983, for 1990 from 1991, for 2010 from 2014; for Philippines, data for 1990 from 1995; for Timor-Leste, data for 2000 from 2003, for 2010 from 2009; and, for Vietnam, data for 1990 from 1980, for 2010 from 2011. Data for all other years refer to the actual year indicated in the chart

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Singapore has had the highest rate of singlehood from the 1980s until the turn of the twenty-first century. Looking at Fig. 3.2a, b, Singapore’s singlehood rates for women rose from 16.7% in 1980 to 25.1% in 2010 among the 30–34 age group and doubled from 8.5% in 1980 to 17.1% in 2010 for the 35–39 age group. A similar pattern was observed for men where singlehood among the 30–34-year olds increased by 15.6 percentage points to 37.1% and doubled among the 35–39 age group to 20.4%. Singapore’s numbers are close to East Asian countries where singlehood rates for men and women range from 37.6% (South Korea) to 49.1% (Japan), which are higher than the OECD average of around 15% (Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development, 2011).Footnote 1

A study on singlehood in Singapore postulated that the high rates of singlehood in the country are attributable to a complex set of demographic, economic, and social factors. Commonly cited among these are economic development, increased educational attainment particularly among women causing ideational change, a shift in gender roles, long working hours, and changing social norms characterized by an increasing acceptance of singles and cohabitation (Jones et al., 2012). What then could have caused the temporary stalling in the rise of singlehood rates in the country after 2000? Literature suggest that this can be attributed partly to the growth in the number of permanent residents in the country (Jones et al., 2012, p. 731) and to the government’s efforts to encourage marriage and births by providing financial and institutional incentives for those who do so (Jones & Yeung, 2014, p. 1579).

Based on 2010 data, the proportion of single women in Myanmar for the 30–34 and 35–39 age groups are 3.9 and 4.3 percentage points higher than that of Singapore.Footnote 2 For men, Singapore still has the highest singlehood rate for the 30–34 age group at 37.1%, which is very close to Thailand at 36.5%. Thailand has the highest singlehood rate for the 35–39 age group at 23.9%, which is 3.5 percentage points higher compared to Singapore’s 20.4%.

Rigg (2012, p. 157) elucidated that Myanmar’s high level of singlehood, which recently surpassed that of Singapore, is related to Burmese society’s social acceptance of singlehood; hence, the pressure to marry is lower compared to other countries in the region. The country’s low level of economic development and strong social disapproval of divorce also add to the reluctance of men and women to enter marriage and instead opt for singlehood.

Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Cambodia also show an increase in the proportion of single men and women in their 30s (Abalos, 2014). Over 30 years, the proportion of women never married in Thailand for the 30–34 and 35–39 age groups increased by 11.7 and 7.3 percentage points and by 4 and 2.1 percentage points for the Philippines for the same age group and within the same period. For Malaysia, it increased by 5.5 and 3 percentage points within 20 years. For the same age group but within ten years, Timor-Leste’s proportion of single women rose by 5.3 and 3.2 percentage points while Cambodia’s rose only by 1.2 and 0.4 percentage points.

Overall, men had a steeper rise in singlehood with rates among the 30–34 and 35–39 year olds in Thailand increasing by 25 and 17.8 percentage points respectively, and in the Philippines by 10.3 and 6.8 percentage points over 30 years. Within two decades, Malaysia’s singlehood rates for men aged 30–34 and 35–39 went up by 8 and 6.6 percentage points, while Cambodia’s rose by 3.1 and 1.7 percentage points, respectively. Jones pointed out that in Malaysia and Singapore, male singlehood is negatively correlated with education (Rigg, 2012). The fastest rise in singlehood among men in their 30s was in Timor-Leste where a 15.3 and 7 percentage point increase occurred among the same age groups in just a decade between 2000 and 2010 (when data are available for this country). For Brunei, data from 1980–1990 show that the singlehood rate has also increased, but the lack of data after 1990 makes it difficult to track the recent trend of singlehood in the country. These trends have to do with the increase modernization, education, changing gender norms and family ideology discussed in previous chapters.

3 Divorce

The UN defines crude divorce rate (CDR) as the number of divorces occurring among the population during the year, per 1000 people estimated at midyear. Figure 3.4 below shows varying divorce trends in Southeast Asia. Data are only available for five countries at different time points.

Fig. 3.4
figure 4

Crude divorce rate in Southeast Asia, 1970–2015. Source Data for Brunei (1978, 1985, 1995, 2004, 2005), Thailand (1978, 1985, 1995, 2004, 2005), and Vietnam (2002) from UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs World Marriage Data 2008; for Singapore (1978, 1985, 1995, 2003), Indonesia (1976, 1985, 1995, 2001, 2001), and Vietnam (2003, 2005, 2007) from Dommaraju and Jones (2011); for Singapore (2003–2009) from Singapore Department of Statistics’ Key Indicators on Marriages and Divorces, 2004–2009; and for Singapore (2010–2015) from Singapore Department of Statistics’ Key Indicators of Marriages and Divorces, 2010–2015. All sources were accessed on 31 October 2016

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The fastest increase and highest rate now occurs in Singapore where the CDRs have consistently increased from 0.6 in 1978 to 2 in 2005 followed by a small decline till 2015. This is comparable with the OECD’s average of over two divorces per 1000 people (Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development, 2011). Similarly, Thailand’s divorce rates also jumped from 0.5% in 1978 to 1.4% in 2004. However, compared to Singapore where rates further increased from 1.5% in 2003 to 2% in 2005, Thailand’s divorce rates stalled at 1.4% in 2004 and 2005. The divorce rates in other countries in this region remain relatively low.

On the contrary, Brunei’s divorce rates, while closely resembling Singapore’s figures with 0.7% in 1985 and 1.2% in 1996, has dropped to 1% in 2003 with a slight bounce in 2004. Mohammed and Anaman (2003) showed the rising divorce rates caused more women to enter the labour force.

From the middle of the 1970s to the 1980s, Indonesia had the highest rate of divorce in the region; but these numbers dropped almost by half, to 0.6% in 1995 before climbing back up to 0.7% in 2001 and stalling at that level in 2002. The decline in divorce in the 1990s may have been linked to the ideological changes brought by industrialization that veers away from early arranged unions and instead emphasize love, affective bonds, emotional compatibility, and commitment as essential to marriage (Heaton et al., 2001). The reversal of the trend by the turn of the century was proposed to have been a function of an increased exposure to popular media which espouses developmental idealism coupled with the government’s recognition and institutionalization of women’s rights (Heaton & Cammack, 2011).

Meanwhile, the limited data for Vietnam indicate that divorce rates remain low and have even declined from 0.5% in 2002 to 0.2% in 2003 and stagnated at that level until 2005.

4 Consensual Union

While marriage rates in the region are declining and those who marry tend to do so at a later age, statistics also show that a significant proportion of the population is entering into consensual unions or cohabitations. Figure 3.5a, b indicate the percentage of men and women who are in consensual unions in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam at different ages. Data for other countries are not available. It should be noted that data on cohabitation may not be very reliable due to social desirability issues in reporting. Based on available data, the number of women who are in consensual unions is almost four times that of men in such unions. Explanation for this gender discrepancy is unclear. Cohabitation is most notably observed among people in their 20 s and 30 s, peaking at 20–24 for women and 25–29 for men before it goes on a continuous decline until their late 40 s (see also Xenos & Kabamalan, 2007).

Fig. 3.5
figure 5

a Proportion of women in consensual unions in Southeast Asia, by country and age group, latest available year. Source UN World Marriage Data 2015, accessed on 11 October 2016. Notes Latest available data for the Philippines refer to 2013, for Lao PDR to 2012, for Cambodia and Vietnam to 2010, for Timor-Leste to 2009, and for Thailand to 2005; b proportion of men in consensual unions in Southeast Asia, by country and age group, latest available year. Source UN World Marriage Data 2015, accessed on 11 October 2016. Notes Latest available data for Lao PDR refer to 2011, for the Philippines and Cambodia to 2010, and for Timor-Leste to 2009

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Figure 3.5a shows Thailand and the Philippines have the highest percentage of women in consensual unions across all age groups. Thailand’s figures range from 13.7% (15–19 age group) to 42.9% (20–24 age group) in 2015 while the Philippines’ range from 7.6% (15–19 age group) to 23% (20–24 age group) in 2013. Thailand’s numbers are almost double compared to the Philippines and eight times bigger compared to the rest of the countries in the region where the percentage of women in consensual unions does not go beyond 5%. This is a large increase compared to findings in previous research that showed that in 2006, cohabitation only accounted for 2.4% of 18–59-year-old individuals nationally and about 10.2% in Bangkok (Jampaklay & Haseen, 2011).

Other countries that have recorded consensual unions for women were Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam with very low levels ranging from 0.5% to 4%.

For men, Thai data were absent, and the Philippines consistently holds the highest proportion of men in consensual unions particularly among the 25–29 age group at 12%. This is in comparison to the rest of the countries (with available data) where the prevalence of cohabitation is low. Recall that in the Philippines, divorce is prohibited because of the Catholicism tradition there, cohabitation thus may have become an alternative life choice to marriage or after an annulment.