Press release 10/06/2011
The percentage of civil weddings stood at 72% in the fourth quarter of 2010
The total number of weddings fell by 9.6% while the age when marrying rose
The percentage of civil weddings increased in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same period of the previous year, as it went from 66% in 2009 to 72% in 2010, according to Eustat data. Traditionally, there are more civil weddings in the last months of the year than in summer (July, August and September), when 45% of the weddings were in church and 55% in registry offices.
In October, November and December, there were 1,588 weddings in the Basque Country, which was down 9.6%, with respect to the same quarter of 2009. By province, there were 798 weddings in Bizkaia, 523 in Gipuzkoa and 228 in Álava. In terms of the number of couples who were resident outside our Autonomous Community, the number of weddings stood at 39.
1,538 men and 1,548 women who were resident in the Basque Country were married. This was the first marriage for 1,343 men (87.3%), while 6 widowers and 189 divorcés remarried. The percentage of women who married for the first time was slightly higher than that for men, as 1,368 single women (88.4%), 10 widows and 170 divorcées married.
The number of foreign brides and grooms increased
In the 4th quarter of 2010, 10% of the grooms and 14% of brides were foreign, which was higher than the previous year, when it stood at 9 and 12%, respectively.
With regard to the distribution of marriages according to the age of spouses, 84.9% of grooms were over 30 in the fourth quarter of 2010, while this percentage stood at 74.6% in the case of the brides. These figures were higher than those for the same quarter of the previous year: 83.7% in the case of men and 73.7% in the women.
In 2010 overall, the general trend to marry later continued, as 82.9% of the grooms and 70.1% of the brides married at aged 30 or over. These percentages were higher than in 2009 (81.2% and 67.1%, respectively).
The provisional figures for 2009 show that the number of marriages of residents in the Basque Country fell by 3.2% on the previous year. On the other hand, the percentage of civil weddings was nearly 5 points higher than the figure for 2009, as they accounted for 66% of the total.
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
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