BEIJING, June 17  -- China saw 3.5 million couples divorce in 2013, up 12.8 percent from the previous year, according to Ministry of Civil Affairs statistics on Tuesday.

The divorce rate roughly stood at 0.26 percent, rising 0.03 percentage points year on year, the ministry's statistics showed.

Meanwhile, 13.47 million couples registered to get married last year, up 1.8 percent from that of 2012.

Among the newlyweds, people aged between 25 to 29 were the biggest group, taking up 35.2 percent of the total.