Press Release 12/07/2017
3,536 marriages broke up in the Basque Country in 2015, 0.8% less than the previous year
Four out of every 10 break ups occurred before the tenth anniversary of the marriage
In 2015 3,536 marriages broke up in the Basque Country, of these, 15.7% were processed by the courts in Álava, 53.7% in Bizkaia and 30.6% in Gipuzkoa, according to data prepared by EUSTAT. 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.
Of the total number of direct divorces, 2,514 were dissolved by mutual consent and 864 were contested. As for separations, 130 were dissolved by mutual consent and 24 were contested.
In 59.3% of marital breakdowns the request was filed jointly by both spouses, in 26.2% by the wife and 13.7% by the husband.
Four out of ten breakdowns occurred in the first 10 years of marriage and 27% after 20 years. In the case of separations, 50% of marriages lasted 20 years or more. The marriages dissolved directly through divorce lasted on average 16 years, a figure that rose to 23 years among those dissolved through separation.
31.9% of dissolved marriages had no minor children or dependants of legal age, 59.1% had only minors, 3.6% had only offspring of legal age who were economically dependent and in 5.4% of cases there were both minor and legal age dependants.
In 68.1% of marriages with children, child support was paid by the father, in 7.6% by the mother and in 24.3% by both spouses.
Regarding the custody of minor children, in 66% of cases it was granted to the mother, in 8% to the father, and it was shared in 25.7% of cases.
The total number of divorces in 2015 was 3,901
Regarding divorces, in 2015 there was a total of 3,901, divided into 523 cases where there had been a prior legal separation and 3,378 direct divorces.
3,880 heterosexual couples got divorced as well as 21 homosexual couples, 9 of them male and 12 female.
In reference to heterosexual divorces, the majority took place in the 40-49 age range, in the case of both men and women, comprising 40.7% and 49.9%, respectively, of the total of divorcees. The average age of women at the time of divorce was 44, whilst for men it was 47.
Regarding the nationality of spouses, 9.1% of men were foreign, and the percentage of foreign wives was similar, at 9.7%.
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 wives, 8% were divorced and 0.5% widows; for husbands, these proportions were 8.7% and 0.3% respectively.
Most spouses were resident in the Basque Country on the date of the divorce, although 4.8% of men and 3.6% of women resided outside the Basque Country.
In 2015 there were 154 separations and 4 marital annulments
Of the 154 separations that occurred in 2015, 84.4% were by mutual consent and 15.6% were dissolved through legal action.
In separations, the average age of women was 49 and the average age of men was 52.
With respect to incidents of annulment, three out of the four cases of marital annulment were granted by the courts in Bizkaia and one in Gipuzkoa, and in these cases the average age of women was 45, and that of men, 39.
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