Press Release 19/11/2018
In the second quarter of 2018 the number of marriages in the Basque Country was down 4.1% compared to the previous year
The percentage of foreign nationals entering into marriage increased
In the second quarter of 2018 the figure for marriages in the Basque Country stood at 2,306, which was a drop of 4.1% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. Of the total number of marriages, 52 were between people of the same sex (25 between men and 27 between women) and the remaining 2,254 were heterosexual marriages.
As is common in the second quarter the number of unions rose considerably, above all in the month of June, as opposed to what happens in the winter months, which are characterised by the low number of weddings.
During the spring months of 2018, the percentage of civil weddings was 83.7%, 0.6 points higher than in the same quarter of 2017 but lower than that observed in the first quarter of 2018, when it stood at 93.1%. This percentage refers only to heterosexual marriages, to which a further 2.3 points should be added for marriages between people of the same sex, all of which were civil.
Of the 2,306 marriages in the second quarter of 2018, 2,192 men and 2,194 women resident in the Basque Country married. For 1,891 spouses (86.3%) this was their first marriage, whilst 24 widowers and 277 divorcees remarried. The percentage of first weddings for women was similar to that for men: the number of single women who married stood at 1,884 (85.9%), 14 widows and 296 divorcees.
87.2% of those entering into marriage were over 30 years of age
With respect to the distribution according to the age of the couple, 90.8% of husbands and 83.6% of wives were older than 30. In the same period of 2017, the proportion was higher for the men, 91.8%, and slightly lower for the women, 83.1%.
In terms of provinces, Álava, with 319 weddings, saw a decrease of 0.6% compared to the previous year; Gipuzkoa, with 734 weddings, was down by 6.3%, and there were also fewer weddings in Bizkaia, down by 4.0%, to 1,144. On the other hand, 109 couples fixed their residency outside the Basque Country.
In the months of April, May and June 2018, 7.4% of recently married men and 10.7% of recently married women were foreign nationals. With regards to the same quarter of the previous year, the percentage of men increased by 5 tenths and that of women 2 tenths.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62