Marriages and divorces, Slovenia, 2009

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Slightly fewer marriages than a year before

In 2009, 6,542 marriages took place in Slovenia, which is 2.4% less than a year before when (after 2003) most marriages were recorded.

Four decades ago a bit more than 14,000 marriages took place or 8.2 marriages per 1000 population. In 2009 there were 3.2 marriages per 1000 population.

Usually around 90% of all marriages are first–time marriages. In 2009, 5,852 or 89.5% of grooms and 5,917 or 90.4% of brides were married for the first time.

The mean age of groom and bride above 30 years of age

The mean age of groom reached 30 years of age at the beginning of the 1990s. Since then it has been constantly increasing and reached 33.1 years of age in 2009. The mean age of bride reached 30 years in 2006. In 2009, the mean age of bride was 30.3 years.

The fact that the age at marriage is on the rise is also shown by the mean age at first marriage, which is approaching 30 years of age. A groom reached 30 years of age at first marriage for the first time in 2002. In 2009 the mean age at first marriage was 30.7 years. The mean age of bride at first marriage has also been rising but has not yet reached 30 years of age. In 2009 it was 28.3 years.

Every sixth marriage took place in May

Most of the marriages in 2009 took place in May. 1,044 or 16% of all couples were married in May. May was followed by June and September (966), while the fewest marriages took place in January.

Most of the marriages between Slovene citizens in 2009

5,256 or 80% of marriages in 2009 were between Slovene citizens (both groom and bride had Slovene citizenship).

Of all marriages, 563 or 8.6% where those where a groom with Slovene citizenship married a bride with foreign citizenship. Almost half of brides with foreign citizenship were from republics of former Yugoslavia; the most from Bosnia and Herzegovina (22.2%) and 12.8% from Croatia. Third were brides from Ukraine with 9.6%. There were 57 different citizenships of brides with a groom of Slovene citizenship in 2009.

693 marriages or 10.6% were those where a bride with Slovene citizenship married a groom with foreign citizenship. Most of the grooms were from republics of former Yugoslavia; 36.1% from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14.0% from Croatia.There were 61 different citizenships of groom with bride of Slovene citizenship in 2009.

2,297 divorces in 2009

In 2009 the number of divorces increased by 2.3% compared to 2008. 2,297 divorces took place. The divorce rate in 2009 was 1.1.

There were 351 divorces per 1000 marriages. The mean age of husband at divorce was 44.4 years while a wife was three years younger (41.2 years).

Average duration of marriage before divorce was 13.3 years

Marriages that end in divorce tend to last longer than in the past. In 2009, 47.8% of marriages that ended in divorce lasted 15 years of more, while 15.6% of marriages that ended in divorce lasted less than 5 years.

43.1% of divorces without dependent children

Of all marriages that were divorced in 2009, 989 (43.1%) were without dependent children. In the remaining 1,308 marriages that ended in divorce there were 2,023 dependent children. Most numerous were divorces with one dependent child (30.4%), followed by divorces with two dependent children (22.6%). In 89 divorced marriages there were three or more dependent children (3.9%).

Registered same-sex civil partnerships

In Slovenia since July 2006 when the Registration of Same-sex Civil Partnership Act came into force most same-sex partnerships were registered in 2009; 11 same-sex civil partnerships were registered: 7 between men and 4 between women.

• Marriages and divorces, municipalities, Slovenia, 2009, 29kB