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Marriage registrations soared to an eight-year high last year, and a record number of babies were born, the National Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.
These seem to be the effects of the 2006 Year of the Dog -- considered to be a particularly auspicious year to get married because it had two lunar springs -- and the 2007 Year of the Golden Pig -- considered a very auspicious year to have babies.
According to the NSO, 345,600 couples registered their marriages in 2007, the most since 1999.
An NSO official said, "The Year of the Dog started on Jan. 30, 2006 and ended on Feb. 17, 2007. During this lunar year, more couples got married than in previous years, but many of them registered their marriages the next lunar year (2007)."
According to the NSO, the number of marriage registrations in 2007 was exceptionally high chiefly because the number of women aged 25 to 29 years old -- a demographic group that accounted for 49 percent of all women who got married in 2007 -- increased to 1,958,000 in 2007, the highest since 2004.
The marriage rate in 2007 was seven per 1000 people, compared with 6.9 per 1000 in 2006.
Probably due to the effects of the Year of the Golden Pig, 497,000 babies were born in 2007, up 9.9 percent from 452,000 in 2006.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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