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Press release 14.06.12

MARRIAGE STATISTICS (EMAT) in the Basque Country 4TH QUARTER 2011

In the fourth quarter of 2011 less than 25% of marriages were religious

The number of marriages fell by 8% and the age of individuals entering into marriage continued to rise

In the fourth quarter of 2011 the number of civil weddings increased with regards to the same period of the previous year, going from 71.9% in 2010 to 76.5% in 2011, according to data provided by Eustat. Traditionally, during the last months of the year, there is a greater proportion of civil weddings than in the summer months (July, August and September), a three-month period in which 42% of ceremonies were canonical and 58% were civil.

In the months of October, November and December 1489 marriages were registered in the Basque Country, which was a drop of 8% compared to the same quarter in 2010. By provinces, in Bizkaia there were 744 weddings, in Gipuzkoa, 527 and in Álava, 185. In terms of those who fixed their residency outside our autonomous community, the number of weddings stood at 33.

1441 men and 1451 women resident in the Basque Country entered into marriage. For 1229 husbands (85.3%) this was their first marriage, whilst 14 widowers and 198 divorcees remarried. The percentage of women entering into marriage for the first time was above that for men, and stood at 86.3% (1252); 13 widows and 186 divorcees also remarried.

The percentage of recently-married women of foreign nationality fell

In the 4th quarter of 2011, 10% of new husbands and 12% of new wives were foreign. Whilst the percentage of foreign husbands was identical to that for the same quarter of the previous year, that of foreign wives was down (14% in 2010).

Regarding the distribution of married couples according to the age of the spouses, in the fourth quarter of 2011 85% of recently married men were over 30 years of age, whereas amongst recently married women this percentage stood at 77.5%. These figures are above those for the same period of the previous year: 84,8% for men and 74,6% for women.

Also for 2011 overall, we can see the same tendency to delay the moment for entering into marriage, with 83% of husbands and 71.8% of wives doing so at the age of 30 or over, higher percentages than those in 2010 (82.9% and 70%, respectively).

In the provisional data for 2011, the number of marriages for individuals resident in the Basque Country fell by 5.1% with regards to the previous year. However, the proportion of civil marriages exceeded that in 2010 by 3 percentage points, standing at 68.6% of the total in 2011.