percentages of each), marriages between parties of Chinese race, marriages between persons already married (see paragraph 155), and 'new' marriages, and of the amounts of fees collected. The number of marriages registered annually has risen every year since 1950-51 except in 1962-63, 1964-65 and 1967-68, each of which was a 'blind year' and therefore unpopular for marriages between Chinese, and also in the year under review, when there was a slight decrease compared with the particularly auspicious preceding year. While the total number of marriages registered has risen from 11,045 to 20,326 over the last decade, the percentages of civil and of religious ceremonies to the total number of marriages registered have remained remarkably steady, beginning at 89.53% and 10.47% respectively in 1960-61 and ending in 1969-70 at 90.79% and 9.21%.
153. Table XXXI shows the ages or age groups of the husbands and wives married during the year as stated in the marriage certificates. This shows that 406 of the husbands and 4,139 of the wives were under 21 at the time of their marriage, and therefore required the consent of their parents or guardians or (in 109 cases) of the Registrar or the Director of Social Welfare as laid down in Sections 14 and 15 of the Ordinance. The distribution of husbands and wives as between the various age groups followed more or less the same pattern as in previous years with the 20-24 age group the most popular for wives and the 25-29 group most popular for husbands. In England and Wales the 20-24 age group is the most popular for both husbands and wives.
154. The trend for girls to marry younger, which declined in 1967-68 for the first time since 1961-62 and regained momentum in 1968-69, declined once more during the year under review with about 23% of all brides under 21 as compared with nearly 26% in the preceding year. The numbers of girls marrying under 21 during the past nine years were as follows:
1961-62
1962-63
1963-64
1964-65
1965-66
1966-67
1967-68
1968-69
1969-70
-
:
***
Number
% of all Marriages under the Ordinance
1,676
14.18
1,868
16.70
2,488
19.59
...
2,733
21.68
3,511
22.60
4,562
25.56
4,094
24.23
1
4,769
25.96
!
4,139
23.34
48