Press Release 02/11/2022

MARRIAGE STATISTICS. 2021

In 2021, marriages in the Basque Country increased by 58.4% with respect to 2020

Compared to 2019, there was a drop of 14%

The total number of marriages in the Basque Country stood at 6,427, up 58.4% on 2020, a year characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it entailed, according to Eustat data. If we take into account the marriages of residents of the Basque Country between individuals of a different sex, the number was 6,161, 2,250 more weddings than the previous year.

The recovery in the number of marriages, although significant, does not yet appear to be complete, given that, in comparison with 2019, there was still a 14% drop in the number of marriages in 2021.

The Basque marriage rate stood at 2.7 weddings per thousand inhabitants, a lower figure than the Spanish rate (3.1‰), and also lower than the European Union (27 countries) rate, which in 2020 (latest available data) was 3.2‰.

The average age at marriage of single men was over 38

In 2021, the age at marriage among different-sex couples decreased compared to 2020, as single men resident in the Basque Country married at 38.8 years of age on average and women living in the Basque Country at 36.6. In 2020, these figures were 39.2 and 37.1 years of age, respectively.

In comparison with 2019, the average age at marriage of single people increased, since the ages that year stood at 37.7 and 35.7, respectively. The difference in ages between both spouses remained stable at around 2 years.

In 2021, there was a drop in the number of divorcees entering into different-sex marriages. The percentage of previously divorced husbands and wives stood at 16.3% and 16.8%, respectively, values lower than in 2020, when they were 19.4% and 18.6%.

266 of the married couples in the Basque Country were in same-sex marriages, up 82.2% on 2020, when there were 146, and 29.1% more than in 2019. Marriages between women have exceeded marriages between men since 2012, accounting for 60% of same-sex marriages in the last year.

In same-sex marriages, single men resident in the Basque Country married at an average age of 44.8 years old in 2021 and women at 37.1. The percentage of previously divorced men in these couples stood at 7.4% and that of women at 10.6%.

9 out of 10 weddings in 2021 were civil

Civil weddings represented 90.6% of marriages, although this percentage fell by 3% compared to 2020. 30 years ago, in 1991, civil marriages only accounted for 25.1% of the total.

As regards residency, 95.6% of married couples settled in the Basque Country and 4.4% went elsewhere, with the main destinations being Madrid (56), Cantabria (54) and Burgos (52), as well as Navarra (27).

More weddings were held on Fridays than on Saturdays

The large increase in civil weddings, along with the fact that, from 2009, almost half of them were celebrated on a Friday, along with the significant reduction in religious weddings, meant that, from 2017, there were more weddings on Fridays than on Saturdays in the Basque Country; the proportion in 2021 was 49.1% compared to 31.2%.

In 23.6% of marriages between different-sex couples, at least one of the spouses was of foreign nationality

Regarding the nationality of people entering into marriage, in 1,451 marriages (23.6% of the total) at least one of the spouses was foreign; in 2020 this percentage was 27.2% and in 2019 it was 20.4%. In 43.9% of these couples the wife had foreign nationality, in 19.6% the husband and in the remaining 36.5%, both spouses were foreigners.

In the case of marriages in which only the woman had foreign nationality, 73.2% corresponded to an American country (mainly Colombia, Nicaragua and Brazil), followed by 18.4% who had a European nationality (with Romanian and French standing out).

If it was only the man with foreign nationality, this was shared across American countries (38.2%), primarily Argentina and Colombia, and European countries (34%), most notably Germany, Italy, Portugal and France, among others. Also of note was that in 13.7% of cases they had Moroccan nationality.

In the marriages in which both spouses were foreigners, most had American nationality, although the percentage was greater amongst women (67.1%) than men (57.3%). The second most significant continent in terms of nationality was Africa, with 26.8% of men and 23.4% of women.

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