Over half of the 705 marriages in Catanduanes last year were solemnized in Roman Catholic churches with the month of May accounting for the largest share, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported last week.
In its preliminary marriage statistics for 2024, the PSA Catanduanes Provincial Statistical Office said that based on the actual number of marriages reported, this is equivalent to a crude marriage rate of 2.44 or two marriages per thousand population.
The municipality of Bato had the highest crude marriage rate with 4.05 of 4 marriages per thousand population while Bagamanoc had the lowest at 1.26 or one marriage per thousand population.
The capital town of Virac had the highest number of marriages with 229 or 32.5 percent of the total, followed by Bato with 96 or 13.6 percent. Panganiban had the fewest marriages with just 13 or 1.8 percent of the total.
Here’s the numbers for the rest of the 11 towns: Caramoran, 80; San Andres, 77; San Miguel, 53; Baras, 45; Viga, 35; Pandan, 34; Gigmoto, 28; and Bagamanoc, 15.
Of the total marriages, the PSA report stated, 265 or 37.6 percent were males between ages 16 to 30 years old and 301 or 42.7 percent were women of the same age group.
In the 31-25 age group, males accounted for 28.2 percent (199), with females at 24.4 percent (172). There were more females married at age 18-35 years old than males in the same age group.
| Age Group | Males | Percent of Total | Females | Percent of Total |
| 60 and above | 8 | 1.1% | 6 | 0.9% |
| 56-59 | 2 | 0.3% | 0 | 0.0% |
| 51-55 | 7 | 1.0% | 2 | 0.3% |
| 46-50 | 13 | 1.8% | 11 | 1.6% |
| 41-45 | 38 | 5.4% | 19 | 2.7% |
| 36-40 | 100 | 14.2% | 53 | 7.5% |
| 31-35 | 199 | 28.2% | 172 | 24.4% |
| 26-20 | 265 | 37.6% | 301 | 42.7% |
| 21-25 | 70 | 9.9% | 127 | 18.0% |
| 18-20 | 3 | 0.4% | 14 | 2.0% |
| Total | 705 | 100.0% | 705 | 100.0% |
The month of May recorded the highest number of marriages with 113 or 16 percent, while June ranked second with 104 or 14 percent followed by July with 93 or 13.2 percent.
The other months with more than 50 weddings were February (60), October (58) and April (56). On the other hand, November had the least number of marriages with only 24 or 3.4 percent.
Majority, or exactly 383 or 54.3 percent, of the weddings were solemnized in Roman Catholic rites, with 287 (40.7 percent) in civil ceremonies and 35 (5 percent) in other religious rites.
Most of those who tied the knot preferred the church as the venue for their wedding ceremonies in 2024, with 401 or 56.9 percent. Over a third, or 246 (34.9 percent) were held at the Office of the Mayor while only one couple were wed in the office of the judge.
The other weddings were held in a hotel (6), beach (5), and house (2) while the other 39 did not indicate a place.