The number of marriages in the A.C. of the Basque Country during the first quarter of 2003 came to 1,204, which represents slightly over half the 2,132 marriages held in the fourth quarter of 2002, although also 229 more than in the same quarter of 2002 (23.5%), according to Eustat data. Traditionally the first quarter of the year is characterised by a low number of marriages held, above all, in January and February.

As in recent years, in this quarter the highest proportion of marriages were civil, which seems to consolidate this fact. By provinces, the highest proportion of civil weddings corresponded to Alava (73%), which represents a very significant increase with regard to the same period the previous year, when the figure was 64%. Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, with 59%, maintain the same percentage as in the first quarter of 2002. In the case of residents outside the Autonomous Community that held weddings in the Community, the percentage was 30%.

Of the 1,204 weddings held in the first quarter of 2003, 1,171 men and 1,186 women married who were residents in the A.C. of the Basque Country. For 1,057 husbands (90%) this was their first marriage, while 12 widowers and 102 divorcés remarried. The percentage of women who married for the first time was similar to that for men: 1,073 single women married, while 8 widows and 105 divorcées also remarried.

The distribution of marriages according to the age of the spouses shows 73% of husbands were aged over 30, while among wives this percentage came to 57%. These proportions are higher than in the same quarter the previous year (71% and 56%, respectively) and, at the same time, are higher than over the whole of the year 2002, which confirms, the ageing trend in the marriage population.