After increasing from 2011 to 2020, the average age of people at their first marriage fell marginally in 2021 for both men and women. However, it increased slightly again in 2022 and 2023. Men were on average older than women at their first marriage, with 36.8 years and 34.9 years respectively in 2023. Most common age at first marriage In 2022, more than 80,000 people got married in Sweden . Of these, people between 30 and 34 years made up the largest age group. Length of a marriage A marriage in Sweden lasted on average 47.3 years in 2022 if it was dissolved by death. For marriages dissolved by divorce, the average length was 12.2 years. The length of marriages dissolved by divorce increased slightly over the last 10 years, while the length of marriages dissolved by death was relatively stable.

The average length of marriages dissolved by death was 47.3 years in Sweden in 2022. In contrast, the average length of marriages dissolved by divorce was 12.2 years that year. In the past decade, the length of marriages dissolved by both divorce and by death were relatively stable. The number of divorces in Sweden fell by over 2,000 in 2022, dropping to 21,531.

Average age at first marriage highest among men

The average age at first marriage in Sweden increased over the last decade. In 2021, the average age at first marriage among women was 34.2 years, which was an increase of 1.1 years compared to 2011. Among men, the age increase for the average age at first marriage was 0.7 years, reaching an average age of 36.3 years at the first marriage in 2021.

Most marriages among people between 30 and 34 years

The most common age of marriage in 2022 was 30 to 34 years of age. In this age group, over 28,000 individuals got married that year. More than half of all marriages in Sweden in 2022 were among individuals from 25 to 39 years.

The most common age of people who married in Sweden in 2022 was 30 to 34 years. Over 28,000 people in this age group married that year, followed by people aged 35 to 39 years. The number of new marriages in Sweden fell significantly in 2020 and 2021 compared to previous years, which can be explained by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Increasing average age at first marriage

In Sweden, the average age at the first marriage for both women and men increased in recent years. Among women, it increased by 1.8 years over the last 10 years. For men, the age increase was not as large as for women, and increased by 0.7 years from 2011 to 2021, reaching an average age of 36.3 years when marrying for the first time.

Average length of a marriage

The average length of a marriage in Sweden in 2021 was 46.9 years if it lasted until it was dissolved by death. For marriages that ended in divorce, the average length was 11.7 years.

Since the mid-2000s the average age at first wedding in France increased gradually, for both men and women. It seems to be common for the first marriage to be celebrated later and later in Western countries. For example, the median age at first marriage in the United States went from 26.8 years old for males and 25 years old for females in 1997, up to 30.3 years old for males and 28.4 for females in 2019. Same thing occurred in Europe where Sweden was the country where the median age at first wedding was the oldest in 2019.

French people wait longer to marry

According to the source, in 2004, the average age at first wedding for French men was 30.8 compared to 28.8 for women. If men still tend to be older than women at first marriage, the average age at marriage for both males and females increased from 2004 to 2021. In 2021, men were aged on average 39.2 at their first wedding, compared to 36.8 for women. Most marriages in France happened between men and women despite the implementation of same-sex marriage in 2013. Mean age at gay marriages appear to be even older than in different-sex wedding.

Marriage and divorce in France

Thus, the percentage of married persons in France decreased since 2006, while the share of single and divorced people rose. However, in 2016, France was the second European country with the highest number of marriages behind Germany. On the other hand, like most other Western nations, France also has an important divorce rate. In 2016, the number of French divorces was of 55 per 100 marriages.

The mean age at first marriage in Spain was, along with Sweden, one of the highest in the European Union. Based on this setup, it is no wonder that the Spanish autonomous communities featured quite elevated numbers - particularly in the Canary Islands, where the average age at first marriage stood at over 41 years old for men and over ** for women in 2023. Easy come easy go Marriage might be undergoing a declining popularity among Spaniards, or so it would seem by its national (heterosexual) marriage figures, which have experienced a slight decrease overtime. In 2023, the Balearic Islands recording the highest numbers on the list of marriage rate in Spain, with a rate of **** marriages per 1,000 people. Moreover, Spain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe, with **** divorces per 100 marriages carried out in this country in 2020. Ageing: a common problem across the continent The age at first marriage is not the only digit that is on the rise in Spain. Data related to age in the Mediterranean country essentially behaves in a similar fashion as the rest of its European counterparts, whose population is also slowly but surely getting older. In 2023, the life expectancy at birth in Spain stood at ***** years, one of the highest in the world.

This graph displays the mean age of women at first marriage in European countries in 2014. In this year the oldest mean age at first marriage for females emerged from Sweden at 33.3 years. This was followed by Spain and Denmark, at 32.3 and 31.9 years respectively.

Spain and Sweden had the oldest mean average age of marriage in Europe for both males and females, with males at 37 and females at 34.8 in 2023. By contrast, Poland had the youngest average age at marriage for males, at 30.8 and Romania for females at the age of 28.

The average cost of a wedding with *** guests in Spain stood at ****** euros as of September 2023. This includes the expenses laid out for all products and services, such as clothing, music, banquet and invitations. The price of a wedding can vary greatly and is highly conditioned by the future new weds’ financial means or their taste. Thus, the price of a wedding in Spain could potentially balloon up to ****** euros and go as down as ****** euros. Over the past 16 years, the cost of a wedding dwindled slightly, except for a short-lived upward trend witnessed between 2013 and 2019.

Spain: the Europeans that tie the knot the oldest
The mean age at first marriage in Spain was, along with Sweden, one of the highest in the European Union. Based on this setting, it is no wonder that many Spanish autonomous communities featured quite elevated average age at the time of marriage - particularly in the Canary Islands, where the average age at first marriage stood at around 42 years old for men and nearly ** for women.

Easy come easy go

Marriage might be undergoing a declining popularity among Spaniards, or so it would seem by its national (heterosexual) marriage figures, which have experienced a slight decrease over the last years. This information translates into a national average of around **** marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, with the region of Ceuta recording the highest numbers on the list of marriage rate in Spain. On top of that, Spain also appears at the top of the list of the highest divorce rates in Europe, with ** divorces per 100 marriages carried out in this country, only exceeded by the rate of Portugal.

According to the 2020 UNIDOMO questionnaire, Portugal clearly led the list of European countries with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages. With 91.5 divorces the Portuguese Republic led the list, followed by Spain and Luxembourg. All three countries boast a significantly higher share than the other European countries, each reporting a divorce rate over 80 divorces.

A different way to look at Portugal

While Portugal clearly has the most divorces per 100 marriages, looking at divorce rates per 1.000 inhabitants in other European countries alters the picture of the country as one unsettled by significant numbers of divorces. With nearly 1.7 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants Portugal has roughly the same divorce rate as Germany and the Netherlands. Interesting is furthermore that although marriages in Portugal tend to result in divorce lightly more often as in Luxembourg (80.3%), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg experienced a 0.6 point higher divorce rate.

What about the rest of the World?

While compared with Latin American countries like Guatemala or Peru, ranked among the countries with the lowest divorce rates in the world, Luxembourg’s divorce rate seems excessive. However, when compared with divorce rates (per 1.000 inhabitants) of countries like the United States (2.7) or China (3.5) divorce rates from Luxembourg and Europe are not out of the ordinary.