15. A record number of 29,487 marriages were registered under the Marriage Ordinance, 9,534 more than in 1970-71 and 8,995 more than the previous record total of 20,492 set in 1968-69. In 4,196 cases out of the 29,487 the couples had previously been married to each other by customary ceremonies of one kind or another, so that the number of 'new' marriages was really 25,291, an increase of 8,048 from last year's figure of 17,243. The year's total comprised 2,488 marriages at 129 licensed places of worship and 26,999 marriages at Marriage Registries. In addition to registered marriages there used to be many thousands of non-Christian customary marriages celebrated each year according to the personal law and religion of the parties. However, since 7th October 1971, the appointed day under the Marriage Reform Ordinance, marriages entered into in Hong Kong may be contracted only in accordance with the Marriage Ordinance. This, coupled with the fact that the year happened to be an auspicious year for marriages in the Chinese calendar, no doubt had a considerable bearing on the increased number of marriages registered. The Marriage Reform Ordin- ance also provides for the post-registration of customary and 'modern' marriages entered into before 7th October 1971. During the year 443 post-registrations were effected under this provision. The number of girls marrying under 21 increased by 1,561 to 5,327, but this represented only 18.07% of all marriages registered as against 18.87% in the previous year. The percentage has now fallen each year since the peak of 25.56% was reached in 1966-67, after having risen in each year to that point from 14.16% in 1961-62, when records were first kept. There was an increase of 1,171 to 2,912 in the number of marriages performed in New Territories Registries. This is more than 13 times as many as in 1960-61 when the Registries were opened.
16. 20,253 deaths were registered, 510 less than in 1970. This resulted in a 0.26 drop in the crude death rate to 5.01 per 1,000 of population, which is the lowest in the world, and compares with an estimated 10 in Europe, 15 in Asia, and 14 in the World (see paragraph 173). The infant mortality rate dropped by 1.27 to 18.36 per 1,000 live births, continuing a downward trend broken only twice since 1950, when the rate was 99.6.
Revenue and Expenditure
17. As compared with 1970-71 the grand total of the Department's contribution to the revenue of the Colony was down by $503,000 to $14.36m., this being due mainly to decreases of $556,000 in fees
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