Press Release 20/07/2015
3,204 marriages broke up in the Basque Country in 2012
3,010 judgements were made of direct divorce (without prior legal separation), 187 of separation of 7 of annulment
There were 3,204 marital breakdowns in 2012, according to Eustat data. Marital breakdown is defined as the dissolution of a marriage due to direct annulment, separation or divorce. In other words, marriages that have ended without a prior legal separation.
Of the 3,204 marital breakdowns, 491 were processed by judicial bodies in Álava, 1,648 in Bizkaia and 1,065 in Gipuzkoa.
Of all direct divorces, 73.5% were by mutual consent and 26.5% were contested, whilst in separations 82.4% were by mutual consent and 17.6% were contested.
In 61.2% of marital breakdowns the request was filed jointly by both spouses, in 26.7% by the wife and only 11% by the husband.
Two of out 10 breakdowns occurred in the first 5 years of marriage and 26% after 20 years. In the case of separations, 42.2% of marriages lasted 20 years or more.
39.5% of dissolved marriages had no minor children or dependants of legal age, 52.4% had only minors, 3.7% had only offspring of legal age who were economically dependent and in 4.4% of cases there were both minor and legal age dependents.
In 78.6% of marriages with children, child support was paid by the father, in 7.2% by the mother and in 14.2% by both spouses.
Regarding the custody of minor children, in 76.6% of cases it was granted to the mother, in 7.4% to the father, and it was shared in 15.6%.
The total number of divorces in 2012 was 3,647
Regarding divorces, in 2012 there was a total of 3,647, including 637 cases where there had been a prior legal separation and 3,010 direct divorces.
3,618 heterosexual couples got divorced as well as 29 homosexual couples, 18 of them male and 11 female.
The greatest number of heterosexual divorces occurred in the age group between 40 and 49 years in the case of men, 37.8%, and in the age group 35 to 44 in the case of women, 39.6%. The average age of women at the time of divorce was 43, whilst for men it was 45.
Regarding the nationality of spouses, 9.3% of men were foreign, and the percentage of foreign wives was similar, at 10.4%.
As for the marital status of the spouses when they got married, most of them were single. In the case of husbands, 10.5% were divorced and 0.4% widowers; for wives, these proportions were 9.2% and 0.3% respectively.
Most spouses were resident in the Basque Country on the date of the divorce, although 4.7% of men and 3.5% of women had foreign residence.
In 2012 there were 187 separations and only 7 marital annulments
Of the 187 separations that occurred in 2012, 154 were by mutual consent and 33 were dissolved through legal action.
In separations, the average age of women was 46 and the average age of men was 48.
The 7 cases of marital annulment were granted by judicial bodies in Gipuzkoa and in these cases the average age of women was 35, and that of men, 42.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62