In the months of April, May and June 2002 there were 3,077
marriages in the A.C. of the Basque Country, which represents a 6.4% increase
with regard to the same quarter the previous year, according to Eustat data.
By provinces, 1,536 weddings were held in Bizkaia, followed by 992 in Gipuzkoa
and 426 in Alava. In the case of residents outside the A.C. of the Basque Country,
the number of weddings came to 123.
Rise in civil marriages
The higher number of weddings held in this quarter with regard
to the previous is due to ceremonies taking place in the months of May and June.
In addition, in this period 33.3% of weddings were civil, a higher percentage
than that of the same quarter in 2001. At the same time this proportion is considerably
lower than in the first three months of 2002, in which over half the weddings
were civil.
Fall in second marriages
In the 3,077 weddings in the second quarter of 2002, 2,971
men and 3,029 women who were resident in the A.C. of the Basque Country married.
For 2,770 husbands (93.2%) this was their first marriage, while 21 widowers
and 180 divorcees remarried. The percentage of first marriages among women was
slightly higher: 2,868 single women married for the first time (94.7%), while
7 widows and 154 divorcées remarried.
With regard to the distribution of marriages according to the
age of spouses, 61.6% of grooms were aged over 30 years, while among brides
this percentage was 43.6%. Both proportions are higher than those obtained in
the same quarter in 2001.