Marriages and divorces, Slovenia, 2018

Basic data on marriages

In 2018, 7,256 couples were married, 775 (12.0%) more than a year before. The marriage rate per 1,000 population was 3.5.

Couples were married on every day of the week, most on Saturdays (66.8%), 16.8% on Wednesdays and 16.4% on the other days in a week. The happiest day for many wedding couples was 18 August. On that day, the most couples married in 2018 (276).

The month with the most marriages was June. In June more than 1,100 couples were married. More than 1,000 couples were married also in May, August and September.

The mean age of groom at marriage in 2018 was 36.6 years. On average grooms were almost three years older than brides (33.9 years).
 
6,394 (88.1%) grooms and 6,439 (88.7%) brides were married for the first time. For 5,963 (82.2%) couples this was the first marriage for both spouses. The mean age of groom at first marriage was 32.6 years. A bride was on average two years younger (30.5 years).

Most marriages take place between Slovene citizens. In 5,929 marriages (81.7%) both the groom and the bride had Slovene citizenship. 596 grooms (8.2%) with Slovene citizenship married brides with foreign citizenship. Among those most brides were from Bosnia and Herzegovina. 563 brides (7.8%) with Slovene citizenship married grooms with foreign citizenship. Most of the grooms were also from Bosnia and Herzegovina. 168 marriages (2.3%) were between two inhabitants with foreign citizenship.

50 formal civil unions
 
In 2018, 50 formal civil unions were concluded; 27 between men and 23 between women.


Basic data on divorces
 
2,347 divorces took place in 2018, 40 (1.7%) fewer than in 2017. The mean age of husband at divorce was 46.8 years and of wife 43.8 years. Average duration of marriage at divorce was 14.2 years. 44 marriages ended in divorce in the first year of marriage.

1,185 (50.5%) divorces were without dependent children. The remaining 1,162 (49.5%) marriages that ended in divorce in 2018 involved 1,871 dependent children. Most of those children were assigned to the mother (69.4%); 6.1% were assigned to the father, and 21.2% to both parents.

Most divorces were between Slovene citizens. In 1,931 divorces (82.3%) both the husband and the wife at divorce had Slovene citizenship. 161 husbands (6.9%) at divorce had Slovene citizenship and wives had foreign citizenships. 217 wives (9.2%) at divorce had Slovene citizenship and husbands had foreign citizenships. 38 divorces (1.6%) were between both husband and wife with foreign citizenship.

 
Some interesting facts

• In 2018, 20 couples on average were married per day and 6 couples were divorced.
• The month with the fewest marriages was February (235).
• 99 grooms and 105 brides were married on their birthdays.
• Twelve couples divorced after more than 50 years of marriage.

Data on marriages and divorces by municipalities are available in the SiStat Database.