Press Release 27/09/2021

MARRIAGE STATISTICS. I/2021

847 marriages were registered in the first quarter of 2021 in the Basque Country, 8.4% down on the previous year

In March marriages were up 38.9%

The number of marriages in the Basque Country during the first quarter of 2021 rose to 847, 8.4% down on those in the same quarter of the previous year (925), according to Eustat data. Of the total number of marriages, 799 were heterosexual marriages and 48 were between people of the same sex (20 between men and 28 between women).

The first quarter of the year usually stands out due to the low number of marriages celebrated. In the first quarter of 2021, which was still affected by the impact of the pandemic, in January there were 14.7% fewer marriages than in 2020 and in February 32.5% fewer; in March, on the other hand, marriages rose by 38.9% with respect to March 2020, a month characterised by the start of the pandemic. If we compare the data with the same months of 2019, in January the number of marriages increased by 25.1%, in February marriages were down 15.5% and in March there was a drop of 36.1%.

As is common, in this quarter there was a high proportion of civil marriages: 91.9% of heterosexual marriages, in addition to same-sex marriages, all civil, bringing the total percentage to 97.6%, a percentage 4 tenths higher than in the same quarter of the previous year.

In the 847 weddings in the first quarter of 2021, 808 men and 816 women resident in the Basque Country entered into marriage; the remainder of the spouses resided outside of the Basque Country. For 638 spouses (79%) this was their first marriage, whilst 7 widowers (0.9%) and 163 divorcees (20.2%) remarried. The percentage of women entering into their first marriage was similar to that for men, standing at 644 (78.9%); the number of widows rose to 8 (1.0%) and the number of divorcees stood at 164 (20.1%).

As regards the distribution of marriages according to the age of the couples, 91.7% of husbands were aged 30 or over, whilst this percentage decreased to 84.3% for wives. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the proportion rose for both men (90.3%) and women (82.9%).

The percentage of married men and women of foreign nationality decreased

In the first quarter of 2021, 28.1% of recently married women and 18.4% of recently married men were foreign nationals. These percentages decreased in comparison with the same period of 2020, for both wives and husbands, when they were 29.6% and 20.2%, respectively.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62