The State Statistics Service of the NKR reports that the number of registered marriages in October 2008 was 729 and increase of 710 over the same period last year. Of course such a drastic increase results from the public mass wedding ceremony that recently took place in the NKR capital of Staepanakert. The NKR Ministry of Justice informed Hetq that this year 2,950 marriages have been registered in the country from January 1st till October 31st. This compares to 519 marriages registered during all of last year. The drastic rise in marriages, in addition to the recent mass marriage ceremony, can be credited to various social programs allocated to newlyweds.