Press release dated 10/03/2011

MARRIAGE STATISTCS (EMAT) OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY 3rd QUARTER 2010

The percentage of civil weddings were up in the third quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter of the previous year

2,704 weddings were held in July, August and September 2010, 5.4% down on the previous year

In the third quarter of 2010, 55.8% of weddings were civil weddings, 4 percentage points up on the same period of 2009, according to Eustat data. This figure is down on the second quarter of 2010, where nearly 65.1% of the marriages were held in registry offices.

In July, August and September 2010, there were 2,704 weddings in the Basque Country, which was 5.4% down on the same quarter of the previous year. 347 of the couples were resident in Álava, 825 in Gipuzkoa and 1,454 in Bizkaia. The number of weddings of couples residing outside the Basque Country stood at 78.

July continued to be the favourite month to get married

July was the month with most weddings (1,354), followed by September with 965. On the other hand, August continued to be the month when fewest weddings were held (385) and they were also down 26% on the same period of the previous year.

2,619 men and 2,656 women resident in the Basque Country were married in the 2,704 weddings held in the third quarter of 2010. This was the first marriage for 2,399 men (91.6%), while 10 widowers and 210 divorcés remarried. The percentage of first marriages for women was similar to that of the men: the number of single brides came to 2,451 (92,3%), while 9 widows and 196 divorcées married again.

With regard to the distribution of marriages according to the age of spouses, 79.8% of grooms were over 30 years old, while this percentage stood at 65.4% in the case of the brides. Compared to the same period of the previous year, this figure was up for both sexes, even though the increase was more dramatic in the case of women, as only 62.1% of them were over 30 in 2009 compared to 78.4% of men.

7.7% of the new brides were foreigners

In terms of the nationality of the brides and grooms who married in summer 2010, 5.1% of the men and 7.7% of the women did not hold Spanish nationality.



For further information:

Basque Statistics Office C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Tel:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es Contact: Martín González Hernández Tel:+34-945-01 75 49 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 More press releases on MARRIAGE STATISTICS of the Basque Country Databank on MARRIAGE STATISTICS of the Basque Country