Press Release 21/05/2014
In the fourth quarter of 2013 religious marriages did not reach 15% of the total
There were 1,348 marriages registered in this quarter, 9.3% down on the previous year
In the fourth quarter of 2013 the number of civil marriages in the Basque Country grew with regards to the same period of the previous year, going from 80.8% in 2012 to 85.8% in 2013, according to Eustat data. There are usually a higher proportion of civil marriages during these months of the year than in the summer, when canonical marriages were 31.9% and civil marriages, 68.1%.
In the months of October, November and December 1,348 marriages were registered in the Basque Country, which was a drop of 9.3% compared to the same quarter in 2012. By provinces, in Bizkaia there were 667 weddings, in Gipuzkoa, 464 and in Álava, 179. Of the couples who fixed their residency outside the Basque Country, the number of weddings stood at 38.
1,291 men and 1,299 women resident in the Basque Country entered into marriage. For 1,113 spouses (86.2%) this was their first marriage, whilst 9 widowers and 169 divorcees remarried. The percentage of women entering into marriage for the first time was somewhat lower than that of men, and was 85.7% of the total, even though the figure was identical: 1.113; 15 widows and 171 divorcees also remarried.
The percentage of married men and women of foreign nationality fell
In the 4th quarter of 2013, 9.4% of new husbands and 13.1% of new wives were foreign nationals. The percentage of foreigners entering into marriage was lower than in the same quarter of the previous year (10.1% men and 14.3% women, in the fourth quarter of 2012).
Furthermore, 36 marriages between individuals of the same sex were celebrated, a figure that exceeds the 23 registered the previous year.
Regarding the distribution of married couples according to the age of the spouses, in the fourth quarter of 2013 89.3% of recently married men were over 30 years of age, whereas amongst recently married women this percentage stood at 82.1%. These figures are above those for the same period of the previous year: 88,9% for men and 78,9% for women.
Moreover in 2013 as a whole we can see the same tendency to delay the moment for entering into marriage, with 86.3% of husbands and 76.4% of wives doing so at the age of 30 or over, higher percentages than those in 2012 (85.2% and 73.4%, respectively).
In the provisional data for 2013, the number of marriages for individuals resident in the Basque Country fell by 8.9% with regards to the previous year, while the proportion of civil marriages rose by 5.3 percentage points compared to 2012, reaching 76.4% of the total.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
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