Press Release 11/07/2024

POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS. POPULATION STRUCTURE. MARITAL STATUS. 01/01/2022

More than 50% of Basque Country residents aged 18 and over were married or in a civil partnership

Over 92% of people between 20 and 29 years of age were single

50.9% of Basque Country residents aged 18 and over (935,358 people) were married or in a civil partnership on 1 January 2022, according to Eustat data. They were followed, in numerical terms, by the single population, numbering 634,326 people (34.5%), the widowed population, with 143,159 people (7.8%), and, lastly, those who were divorced or legally separated: 123,716 people (6.7%).

The married population was also the most prevalent in the three provinces, where the proportions were very similar: in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the proportion was 51%, and in Álava it was somewhat lower at 50.6%. Furthermore, it was more common for men to be married than women (52.7% and 49.3%, respectively). By age group, the proportion of married people increased significantly from age 30 onwards and remained high until the age of 69.

There were a number of differences at the provincial level: Álava had the highest proportion of single people (35.7% compared to 34.5% for the provinces as a whole), Bizkaia had the largest proportional widowed population (8.4%), and Gipuzkoa (7.2%) had the most similar proportions to the overall figures for the Basque Country (7.8%). The proportion of the population who were divorced or legally separated was similar in all three provinces, ranging from 6.5% in Gipuzkoa to 6.8% in Bizkaia, with 6.9% in Álava, all of them close to the average for the three provinces as a whole (6.7%).

Rates of widowhood and divorce were higher among women than men

The distribution of marital status revealed some differences between men and women, the most notable corresponding to widowhood, as the proportion of women who were widowed (12.7%) was much higher than the proportion of men (2.5%). This difference was more pronounced in the older age groups, particularly among people aged 60 and over, where the percentage of women who were widowed increased considerably (63% among those aged over 80).

As for the other marital statuses, 52.7% of men aged 18 and over were married, compared to 49.3% of women, while 38.5% of men remained single, in comparison to 30.9% of women. Lastly, there was a slightly higher rate of divorce and separation among women than men (7.1% and 6.4%, respectively), although neither were very different from the total figure (6.7%).

The greatest differences in marital status occurred among age groups

Most of the population aged between 20 and 29 were single (92.3%), whereas the percentage of people who were married stood at 7.4%. In the 30-39 age group, the percentage of married people rose considerably (38.9%), while the percentage of single people dropped to 57.8%. In the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups, the majority of the population were married (57.2% and 62.9%, respectively), with the proportion of single people decreasing significantly in these groups.

Although the percentage of married people remained high in the 60-69 and 70-79 age groups (69.5% and 67.7%, respectively), the percentage of widows began to increase, reaching 7% in the 60-69 age group and 18.1% in the 70-79 age range. In the group aged 80 and over, while 41.5% of people remained married, the percentage of widows increased dramatically (47.1%).

Marital status and regions

Cantábrica Alavesa and Goierri stood out as the regions with the highest percentage of people who were married or in a civil partnership (over 54%), far exceeding the percentage for the Basque Country (50.9%). In contrast, the regions of Llanada Alavesa (49.9%) and Markina-Ondarroa (49.6%) had a considerably lower percentage of married people, as did Donostialdea (49%).

As for single people, Rioja Alavesa (36.6%), Donostialdea and Estribaciones del Gorbea (both with 36.5%) recorded percentages above the average (34.5%). On the other hand, Cantábrica Alavesa had the lowest percentage of single people (31.2%), along with Duranguesado (32.5%) and Encartaciones (32%).

Widowhood was more common in Gran Bilbao and Markina-Ondarroa (8.7% and 8.6%, respectively), exceeding the average for the Basque Country (7.8%). In contrast, Estribaciones del Gorbea had the lowest percentage of widows (5.2%), along with Plentzia-Mungia and Añana (6% in both cases).

Lastly, the percentage of people who were divorced or separated was higher in Añana (8.2%) and Bajo Bidasoa (8%) compared to the average for the Basque Country (6.7%). At the other end of the scale, Alto Deba had the lowest percentage in this category (4.8%), along with Urola Costa and Goierri (5% and 5.1%, respectively).

The percentage of single people was higher in the provincial capitals

The marital status figures for the three Basque capitals (Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz) differed somewhat from the average for the Basque Country.

All three provincial capitals had a higher percentage of single people than the Basque average (34.5%), in this order: San Sebastián (38%), Bilbao (36.8%) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (36.3%)

However, the capitals had lower percentages than the Basque Country average (50.9%) in terms of people who were married or in a civil partnership: Bilbao and San Sebastián recorded the lowest percentage (47.3%), and Vitoria-Gasteiz (49.7%).

Widowhood was more common in Bilbao (8.9%) than in the Autonomous Region as a whole (7.8%), while in both Vitoria-Gasteiz (6.8%) and San Sebastián (7.3%), the proportion of people who were widowed was lower than the average.

Lastly, the proportion of people who were divorced or legally separated were very similar in the three capitals, standing at 7% in Bilbao, 7.1% in Vitoria-Gasteiz and 7.3% in San Sebastián; all these figures were slightly above the average for the Basque Country (6.7%).

In short, Basque capitals registered a higher proportion of single people and a lower proportion of people who were married or in a civil partnership compared to the average for the Basque Country. Bilbao stood out for having the highest proportion of widows, while San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz had higher percentages of people who were divorced or legally separated.

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