In 2020, the number of marriages reduced by 16%. The number of divorces also show a slight decrease.
Last year and the year before, marriage statistics were supplemented by senior marriages, since a rule was adopted on giving the possibility for the spouse to inherit their pension.
Deputy Director of the Social Statistics Department of Central Statistical Bureau, Sigita Šulca, said that about 13,000 marriages were entered into in 2019, before the pandemic.
"But last year they were under 11,000 marriages. So 2,000 fewer marriages. As for the divorces, there may have been expectations that social, emotional disturbances will be highlighted during the crisis, but that decline isn't as significant. The number of divorced marriages has fallen by 13%. But each year, about 6,000 couples divorce. For example, 5900 couples split in 2019 and slightly above five thousand in 2020," Šulca said.
Since 2011, when a marriage was also allowed to be separated by a notary, more married couples have been making this decision. Until then, it could only be done in court.
The Central Statistical Bureau is currently gathering recent data on trends in marriages and divorces, which will be available at the end of May, but the trends of previous years are already clear.
“It was normal to get married at 18-20, but right now it is close to 30, and for men over 30. This is the average age when the first marriage is entered into. On the other hand, divorced marriages are more prominent in the group over 40, both for women and men. If you look at the 40-49 year group, around 1000 marriages a year are divorced,” the statistics representative said.
