10,892 weddings were held involving residents of the A.C. of the Basque Country in 2003, 27 more than the year before, according to Eustat data. Over recent years there has been a rising trend in the number of weddings, which increased by 7.1% in 2003, rising from 23.3 % in 1990 to 37.2% in 2003.

By province, civil weddings had greater weight in Alava with (43.1%), followed by Gipuzkoa (40.9%) and Bizkaia (35.5%). The percentage of civil weddings fell to 23.4% when they took place outside the Community.

The Basque marriage rate (4.9 weddings per thousand inhabitants) is similar to the overall rate for the European Union countries (4.8%o in 2002) and lower than the Spanish rate (5.1%o in 2001). September was the most popular month for marriages with 1,553 weddings, followed by July with 1,493 and May with 1,406.

With regard to the type of ceremony, 6,827 were Catholic marriages, 4,056 exclusively civil and 9 corresponded to other religious confessions.

Considering civil status prior to marriage of the spouses, 93,5%, were single males compared to 94.1% single females.

Parallel to the increase in the maternity age there was an increase in the age of spouses. In 2003 the average age of single males who married was 31.7 years and 29.7 for single females. Since 1986 the average age of male spouses increased by 4.3 years and 4.8 in the case of females.

The preferred destination of 762 couples who established their residence outside the A.C. of the Basque Country following marriage was Cantabria, followed by Madrid and Castile and León. Differences appear, with regard to destination, between marriages held in the three provinces: marriages in Alava headed mostly to Castile and León, Madrid and La Rioja; those in Bizkaia to Cantabria, Madrid and foreign countries and those in Gipuzkoa to Madrid, followed by foreign countries and Navarre.

With regard to the geographic origin of spouses, 68.3% of marriages were held between residents of the same municipality in the Community and 9.1% resided in neighbouring municipalities.