Press Release 09/11/2023

MARRIAGE STATISTICS. 2022

In 2022, marriages in the Basque Country increased by 21.5% compared to 2021

In relation to 2019, there was also an increase of 4.5%

There was a total of 7,807 marriages in the Basque Country in 2022, 21.5% more than in 2021, according to Eustat data. If we take into account the marriages of Basque Country residents between different-sex individuals, the number was 7,556, 1,395 more weddings than the previous year.

If we compare the data with 2019, in 2022 there was a 4.5% increase in the number of marriages and this was almost double the number of those celebrated in 2020, the year that marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Basque marriage rate stood at 3.3 weddings per thousand inhabitants, a lower figure than the Spanish rate (3.1‰), and also lower than the European Union (3.9‰), the data in both cases from 2021, which is the latest data available.

The average age at marriage of single men was over 38

In 2022, the age at marriage for different-sex couples had hardly changed in respect of 2021, as single men resident in the Basque Country married at 38.7 years of age on average and women living in the Basque Country at 36.7. In 2021, these figures were 38.8 and 36.6 years of age respectively.

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

In 2022, there was a drop in the number of divorcees entering into different-sex marriages. The percentage of previously divorced husbands and wives stood at 16.2% and 15.4%, respectively, lower values than in 2021, when they were 16.3% and 16.8%.

251 marriages in the Basque Country in 2022 were between same-sex couples, down 5.6% on 2021, when there were 266, and 71.9% more than in 2020. Marriages between women have exceeded marriages between men since 2012, accounting for 70% 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 42.5 years old in 2022 and women at 38.6. The percentage of previously divorced men in these couples stood at 9.9% and that of women at 8.1%.

9 out of 10 weddings in 2022 were civil

Civil weddings represented 89.9% of marriages, although this percentage fell by 0.7% compared to 2021. In 1992 civil marriages only accounted for 24.3% of the total.

As regards residency, 95.5% of married couples settled in the Basque Country and 4.5% moved elsewhere, with the main destinations being Cantabria (70), Madrid (52) and Navarra (34), as well as Burgos (26).

More weddings were held on Fridays than on Saturdays

The large increase in civil weddings, almost half of which have been celebrated on a Friday since 2009, along with the significant reduction in religious weddings, has meant that since 2017 there have been more weddings on Fridays than on Saturdays in the Basque Country. In 2022 the proportion was 45.4% for Fridays compared to 33.4% for Saturdays.

In 23.3% 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 1,761 marriages (23.3% of the total) at least one of the spouses was foreign; in 2021 this percentage was 23.6% and in 2019 it was 20.4%. In 44.7% of these couples the wife had foreign nationality, in 18.8% 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, 68.9% corresponded to an American country (mainly Colombia, Nicaragua and Brazil), followed by 22.3% who had a European nationality (with Romanian and Russian standing out).

If it was only the man with foreign nationality, this was shared across American countries (41.9%), primarily Colombia and Argentina, and European countries (31.1%), most notably Portugal, France and the United Kingdom, among others. Also of note was that in 13.6% 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 (73.1%) than men (66.5%). The second most significant continent in terms of nationality was Africa, with 20.7% of men and 18.4% 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