Marriages and divorces, Slovenia, 2016

Basic data on marriages
In 2016, 6,667 couples were married, which is 218 (3.4%) more than a year before. The mean age of groom at marriage in 2016 was 35.3 years. On average grooms were almost 3 years older than brides (32.6 years). 

5,918 (88.8%) grooms and 5,955 (89.3%) brides were married for the first time. For 5,557 (83.4%) couples this was the first marriage for both spouses. The mean age of groom at first marriage was 31.9 years. A bride was on average 2 years younger (30.0 years).

Most couples were married in spring-summer months. Most were married in June (1,009), followed by September (945) and May (941).

2% of marriages among inhabitants with foreign citizenship
Most marriages take place between Slovene citizens. In 5,327 marriages (80.0%) both the groom and the bride had Slovene citizenship. 603 grooms (9.0%) with Slovene citizenship married brides with foreign citizenship. Among those most brides were from Bosnia and Herzegovina. 616 brides (9.2%) with Slovene citizenship married grooms with foreign citizenship. Most of the grooms were also from Bosnia and Herzegovina. 121 marriages (1.8%) were between two inhabitants with foreign citizenship.

Some interesting facts
• 18 couples on average were married per day.
• Couples were married on every day of the week. Most (75.6%) were married on Saturday.
• Saturday with most marriages in 2016 was 18 June (on that day 234 couples were married, which is 31 more than in the whole month of February).
• 69 grooms and 80 brides were married on their birthdays.
• The biggest age difference between groom and bride was more than 50 years

Basic data on divorces
2,531 divorces took place in 2016 or 4.1% more than in 2015. The mean age of husband at divorce was 46.3 years and of wife 43.4 years.

Average duration of marriage at divorce was 13.9 years. 33 marriages ended in divorce in the first year of marriage.

1,269 (50.1%) divorces were without dependent children. The remaining 1,262 (49.9%) marriages that ended in divorce in 2016 involved 1,984 dependent children. Most of those children were assigned to the mother (73.5%), 5.8% to the father, and 17.7% to both parents.

More male registered same-sex civil partnerships than female
In 2016, 29 same-sex civil partnerships were registered in Slovenia; 20 between men and 9 between women.

Data on marriages and divorces by municipalities are available on the SI-STAT Data Portal. 

Interactive map 1: Marriages per 1,000 population, municipalities, Slovenia, 2016