TAIPEI (DPA) -- Taiwan's divorce rate climbed 5.4 percent on the same period a year earlier, with 7.5 couples separating every hour, official figures showed.

There were 43,194 divorces in the first eight months of 2006, according to Interior Ministry figures published in the United Daily News. Taiwan's divorce rate during that eight-month period was 2.9 divorces per every 1,000 people, up from 2.7 divorces per every 1,000 people in the same period of 2005, the figures showed.

The high divorce rate suggests that nearly half of Taiwanese marriages so far this year will end up in divorce. In the first eight months of 2006, 93,407 couples got married, up 3.3 percent from 2005.