Press Release 01/03/2017
3,566 marriages broke up in the Basque Country in 2014, which was 7.8% up on the previous year
40% of breakdowns occurred in the first 10 years of marriage and 29% after 20 years
In 2014 there were 3,566 marital breakdowns, an increase of 7.8% on the previous year, according to Eustat data. Marital breakdown is defined as the dissolution of a marriage due to direct annulment, separation or divorce. In other words, marriages that have ended without a prior legal separation. 3,380 judgements were made of direct divorce (without prior legal separation), 181 of separation of 5 of annulment.
Of the 3,566 marital breakdowns, 15% were processed by the courts in Álava, 53.4% in Bizkaia and 31.6% in Gipuzkoa.
Of the total number of direct divorces, 2,547 were dissolved by mutual consent and 833 were contested. As for separations, 145 were dissolved by mutual consent and 36 were contested.
In 60.7% of marital breakdowns the request was filed jointly by both spouses, in 26.4% by the wife and 12% by the husband.
Four out of ten breakdowns occurred in the first 10 years of marriage and 29% after 20 years. In the case of separations, 49.1% of marriages lasted 20 years or more. Marriages dissolved by direct divorce lasted 15 years on average, whereas marriages dissolved by separated lasted 21 years on average.
36.8% of dissolved marriages had no minor children or dependants of legal age, 54.5% had only minors, 4.2% had only offspring of legal age who were economically dependent and in 4.5% of cases there were both minor and legal age dependants.
In 69.6% of marriages with children, child support was paid by the father, in 9.8% by the mother and in 20.6% by both spouses.
Regarding the custody of minor children, in 66.9% of cases it was granted to the mother, in 10% to the father, and it was shared in 22.5% of cases.
The total number of divorces in 2014 was 3,920
Regarding divorces, in 2014 there was a total of 3,920, divided into 540 cases where there had been a prior legal separation and 3,380 direct divorces.
3,888 heterosexual couples got divorced as well as 32 homosexual couples, 12 of them male and 20 female.
The greatest number of heterosexual divorces occurred in the age group between 40 and 49 years in the case of men, 41.2%, and in the age group 35 to 44 in the case of women, 41.9%. The average age of women at the time of divorce was 43, whilst for men it was 46.
Regarding the nationality of spouses, 10.3% of men were foreign, and the percentage of foreign wives was similar, at 11.5%.
As for the marital status of the spouses when they entered into the now-dissolved marriage, most of them were single. In the case of husbands, 10.8% were divorced and 0.4% widowers; for wives, these proportions were 8.7% and 0.4% respectively.
Most spouses were resident in the Basque Country on the date of the divorce, although 4% of men and 2.7% of women resided outside the Basque Country.
In 2014 there were 181 separations and 5 marital annulments
Of the 181 separations that occurred in 2014, 80.1% were by mutual consent and 19.9% were dissolved through legal action.
In separations, the average age of women was 48 and the average age of men was 50.
The 5 cases of marital annulment were granted by the courts in Bizkaia and in these cases the average age of women was 35, and that of men, 37.
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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