Portugal was the European country with the highest divorce rate in 2020, counting almost 92 divorces per 100 marriages. However, in 2023, the divorce-marriage ratio decreased to 47 percent. In 2020, the ratio peaked because of the drop in marriages during the coronavirus (COVID-19) related lockdown. Pandemic years registered the lowest numbers of marriages and divorces since 2010 Until 2019, the annual divorce rate in Portugal had been relatively stable at around two divorces per 1,000 residents. Nevertheless, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the lowest divorce rate so far was recorded at 1.7, which may be explained by the restrictions imposed by lockdowns and the delays in administrative and bureaucratic services. Still, and due to the same reasons, the number of marriages also suffered a steep decline in 2020 to around 18,900, more than doubling in 2022 and surpassing 2011 figures. First marriages and motherhood occur later in life in Portugal The mean age on first marriage of both men and women in Portugal has been increasing at an almost constant pace for years. 2021 marked an inversion of this tendency, with the mean age of men when marrying for the first time decreasing to 34.3 years of age and the mean age of women decreasing to 32.9 years. However, the rising trend in age was quickly reestablished, as 2022 recorded the highest mean age on first marriage for both sexes. Under the same inclination is the average age of women when giving birth to their first child, which was at 30.9 years in 2021, increasing two years of age in relation to 2010.

In Portugal, the number of divorces per 1,000 residents was the highest in 2010, at 2.6. The lowest values were recorded in 2020 and 2021, when the divorce rate was at 1.7. The restrictions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may help to justify this decrease, as, in 2022, the rate rose to 1.8.

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.

The decision of ending a marriage is not always easy, but almost 82 percent of Italians believed that sometimes it was necessary. When asked about the reason for getting separated or divorced, the majority of Italians indicated betrayal or infidelity causing their decision. The second most common motive, pointed by about 17.5 percent of the interviewees, was the fact that the love between the two spouses was over.

Divorces in Italy on the rise

The number of Italian couples deciding to end their marriage has increased over the last years. In 2017, the country registered roughly 15.1 divorces per every 10,000 inhabitants, about six divorces more than in 2010. The region where most spouses decided to split up was Liguria, with 21 divorces per 10,000 individuals.

The Portuguese and Luxembourgish divorce the most

With 48.7 divorces for every 100 marriages, Italy ranked right behind the European top ten countries with the highest divorce rates in 2016. The ranking was led by Portugal and Luxembourg, which in the year considered registered about 69 and 66 divorces for every 100 marriages, respectively.

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.