Marriage and divorce statistics - European Commission

In 2020, the highest crude marriage rates within the EU were reported in Hungary (6.9 marriages per 1 000 persons), Latvia (5.6) and Lithuania ( ... search Navigation MainpageStatisticalthemesGlossaryCategoriesStatistics4beginnersTutorialsHelpEurostathomeEducationcorner Onlinepublications RegionalyearbookTheEUintheworldSustainabledevelopmentFulllist Tools WhatlinkshereSpecialpages Navigation MainpageStatisticalthemesGlossaryCategoriesStatistics4beginnersTutorialsHelpEurostathomeEducationcorner Onlinepublications RegionalyearbookTheEUintheworldSustainabledevelopmentFulllist Tools WhatlinkshereSpecialpages twitter facebook e-mail      pdf Translate Marriageanddivorcestatistics DataextractedinMay2022. Plannedarticleupdate:May2023. Highlights Tweet In2020,thelowestcrudemarriagerateswithintheEUwerereportedinItaly(1.6marriagesper1 000persons),Portugal(1.8)andSpain(1.9). Tweet In2020,thehighestcrudemarriagerateswithintheEUwerereportedinHungary(6.9marriagesper1 000persons),Latvia(5.6)andLithuania(5.5). Tweet In2020,thehighestcrudedivorcerateswithintheEUwerereportedinLatvia,LithuaniaandDenmark(all2.7divorcesper1 000persons). Tweet In2020,birthsoutsidemarriageoutnumberedbirthsinsidemarriagein8EUMemberStates:France,Bulgaria,Portugal,Estonia,Slovenia,Sweden,DenmarkandtheNetherlands. Thisarticlepresentsdevelopmentsthathavetakenplaceinrelationtofamilyformationanddissolutionthroughananalysisofmarriageanddivorceindicators.Marriage,asrecognisedbythelawofeachcountry,haslongbeenconsideredthemarkoftheformationofafamilyunit.However,theanalysisoftrendsinfamilyformationanddissolutionbasedonjustmarriageanddivorcedatamightnotofferafullpicture.Legalalternativestomarriage,suchasregisteredpartnership,havebecomemorewidespreadandnationallegislationhaschangedtoconfermorerightsonunmarriedcouples.Similarly,withdivorcebeingmadeprocedurallyeasier,itishardertomakereliabledataavailable. Thenumberofmarriagesper1 000personsdecreasedwithintheEUinrecentdecades,whilethenumberofdivorcesincreased.However,thesetwotrendsseemtohavesloweddowninrecentyears.Anincreaseintheproportionofchildrenwhoareborntounmarriedcoupleswasalsoobserved. Fullarticle Fewermarriages,fewerdivorces Some1.4millionmarriagesandanestimated0.8milliondivorcestookplaceintheEUin2020,accordingtothemostrecentdataavailableforallEUMemberStates.Thesefiguresmaybeexpressedas3.2marriagesforevery1 000persons(inotherwordsthecrudemarriagerate)and1.6divorcesforevery1 000persons(inotherwordsthecrudedivorcerate).ThemostrecentdataavailableformarriagesforCyprusisfrom2019;andfordivorcesitis2019forCyprus,2017forIrelandandGreece,and2016forFrance. Since1964(thefirstyearwehaveavailabledata),thecrudemarriagerateintheEUhasdeclinedbymorethan50 %inrelativeterms(from8.0per1 000personsin1964to3.2in2020).Thedownwardtrendisinterruptedbysomeintermediatepeaksin1989(6.4),2000(5.2),2007(5.0)and2018(4.5).Thedecreaseobservedbetween2019(4.3per1 000persons)and2020inthecrudemarriageratecouldbeinterpretedasafirstsignoftheeffectoftheCOVID-19pandemicontheEUpopulationdevelopment.Atthesametime,thecrudedivorceratehasessentiallydoubled,increasingfrom0.8per1 000personsin1964to1.6in2020.Thedivorceratepeakedin2006(2.1)andhasbeendecreasingslightlysincethen.PartofthisincreasemaybeduetothefactthatinseveralEUMemberStatesdivorcewaslegalisedduringthisperiod(forexample,inItaly,Spain,IrelandandMalta). Figure1:Crudemarriageanddivorcerates,1964–2020(per1000persons)Source:Eurostat(demo_nind)and(demo_ndivind) Table 1showsthatin2020,thehighestcrudemarriagerateswereinHungary(6.9marriagesper1000persons)Latvia(5.6)andLithuania(5.5).ThelowestcrudemarriagerateswerereportedinItaly(1.6marriagesper1 000persons)andPortugal(1.8).Inthecandidatecountries,thecrudemarriageratewasgenerallyhigherthantheEUaverage.Itrangedbetween3.3marriagesper1 000personsinMontenegroand6.2inAlbania.AmongtheEFTAcountries,thecrudemarriageratewashighestforIceland(5.0marriagesper1000persons)andlowestforNorway(3.3marriagesper1 000persons). Table1:Crudemarriagerate,selectedyears,1964–2020(per1000persons)Source:Eurostat(demo_nind) Fordivorce(seeTable 2),in2020thelowestcruderatesintheEUwereregisteredinMalta(0.5divorcesper1 000persons)andSlovenia(0.8).Bycontrast,divorcerateswerehighestinLatvia,LithuaniaandDenmark(allat2.7divorcesper1 000persons),Sweden(2.5)andFinland(2.4).In2020thecandidatecountrieshadcrudedivorceratesrangingbetween0.8divorceper1 000personsinNorthMacedoniaand1.6inTurkey.AmongtheEFTAcountries,thecrudedivorceratewas1.9divorcesper1 000personsinIcelandandSwitzerlandand1.8divorcesper1 000personsinNorway. Table2:Crudedivorcerate,selectedyears,1960–2020(per1000persons)Source:Eurostat(demo_ndivind) Ariseinbirthsoutsidemarriage Theproportionoflivebirthsoutsidemarriagehasshownanincreasingtrendinthepastdecades,almostdoublingsince1993(17.7 %)whenthisdatawasfirstavailableintheEU.In2020thisproportionwasestimatedat41.9 %(seeTable 3)whichmeansthat58.1 %ofchildrenwereborninsidemarriage.ThemostrecentdataavailableforBelgiumis2018,forCyprus2019andforMalta2017.Thissharesuggestsnewpatternsoffamilyformationalongsidethemoretraditionalpatternwherechildrenwerebornwithinmarriage.Extramaritalbirthsoccurinnon-maritalrelationships,amongcohabitingcouplesandtoloneparents. ExtramaritalbirthsoutnumberedbirthsinsidemarriageinseveralEUMemberStates,notablyFrance(where62.2 %ofbirthsoccurredoutsidemarriage),Bulgaria(59.6 %),Portugal(57.9 %),Estonia(56.8 %),Slovenia(56.5 %),Sweden(55.2 %),Denmark(54.2 %),theNetherlands(53.5 %)andBelgium(52.6 %,2018data),aswellasinIceland(71.3 %)andNorway(58.5 %)amongtheEFTAcountries.Greecewasattheotherendofthespectrumwheremorethan86.2 %ofbirthsoccurredwithinmarriage.InTurkeythislattersharewasashighas97.2 %. Table3:Livebirthsoutsidemarriage,selectedyears,1960-2020(shareoftotallivebirths, %)Source:Eurostat(demo_find) Lookingatthelatestavailabledata,extramaritalbirthsincreasedin19EUMemberStatesin2020comparedwith2019.However,insomecountriestheoppositetrendcanbeseen:forexampleHungaryshowsadecreaseintheproportionofextramaritalbirthsinthelatestyears.Spain,showedadecreaseof11p.p.between2019and2020.Theproportionofextramaritalbirthsincreasedin2020comparedwith2019inIceland,Norway,Switzerland,NorthMacedoniaandSerbia. Sourcedatafortablesandgraphs Marriageanddivorcestatistics:tablesandfigures Datasources Eurostatcompilesinformationonawiderangeofdemographicdata,includingdataonthenumberofmarriagesbysexandpreviousmaritalstatusandstatisticsrelatingtothenumberofdivorces.Dataonthenumberoflivebirthsaccordingtothemother’smaritalstatusmaybeusedtoproduceanindicatorthatshowstheproportionofbirthsoutsidemarriage. Context Thefamilyunitisachangingconcept:whatitmeanstobeamemberofafamilyandtheexpectationspeoplehaveoffamilyrelationshipsvarywithtime,makingitdifficulttofindauniversallyagreedandapplieddefinition.Legalalternativestomarriage,likeregisteredpartnerships,havebecomemorewidespreadandnationallegislationhaschangedtoconfermorerightsonunmarriedandsamesexcouples.Alongsidetheselegalforms,otherformsofnon-maritalrelationshipshaveappeared,makingitmoredifficultforstatisticianstocollectdatawithinthisdomainthatcanbecomparedacrosscountries. Duetodifferencesinthetimingandformalrecognitionofchangingpatternsoffamilyformationanddissolution,theseconceptshavebecomemoredifficulttomeasureinpractice.Analystsofdemographicstatisticsthereforehaveaccesstorelativelyfewcompleteandreliabledatasetswithwhichtomakecomparisonsovertimeandbetweenorwithincountries. TheEUhasbeengoingthroughaperiodofdemographicandsocietalchange. MoreinformationoftheworkoftheEuropeanCommission2019-2024totackletheimpactofdemographicchangeinEuropecanbefoundintheEuropeanCommissiondedicatedpages. Directaccessto Otherarticles Tables Database Dedicatedsection Publications Methodology Legislation Visualisations Externallinks Seealso Fertilitystatistics Mortalityandlifeexpectancystatistics Populationandpopulationchangestatistics Publications ReportontheimpactofdemographicchangeinEurope Maintables Marriageanddivorce(t_demo_nup),see: Crudemarriageanddivorcerate(tps00206) Meanageatfirstmarriagebysex(tps00014) Database Marriages(demo_nup)andDivorces(demo_div) Dedicatedsection Demography,populationstockandbalance Methodology Marriagesanddivorces(ESMSmetadatafile—demo_nup_esms) Retrievedfrom"https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Marriage_and_divorce_statistics&oldid=566008" Categories:PopulationMarriagesanddivorcesStatisticalarticleHiddencategories:UnitF2XPopulationMay2023 Page ISSN2443-8219 Thispagewaslasteditedon13May2022,at19:02. 7watchingusers Privacypolicy AboutStatisticsExplained Disclaimers