In 2023, the European country with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages was Finland, with more than 55 divorces. At the bottom of the list was Ireland with only 15.5 divorces per 100 marriages.

In 2022, the divorce rate for all Benelux countries was very similar; in the Netherlands it was **** percent, compared to *** percent in Belgium and *** percent in Luxembourg. For all countries, the divorce rate had been steadily increasing from 1950 to 1970, before fluctuating significantly in the years afterwards.

This table includes the most important key figures on marriage dissolutions due to death and divorce among the registered population of the Netherlands. Excluding dissolutions due to ending registered partnerships.

Data available from: 1950

Status of the figures: All data recorded in this table are final data.

Changes per 1 July 2025: Data of 2024 have been added.

When will new figures be published? In the third quarter of 2026 final figures of 2025 will be added in this publication.

In 2021, *** same-sex dissolutions took places between two men and *** same-sex dissolutions took place between two women. Dissolutions between two women outnumbered dissolutions between two men in every year, with the largest number of same-sex dissolutions between two women taking place in the previous time period with *** dissolutions. The total number of same-sex dissolutions in the Netherlands also peaked i n 2020 year, with over ************ same-sex dissolutions.

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.

In 2022, there were 68,900 heterosexual marriages and 1,700 same-sex marriages. By comparison, in 2021 there were 55,200 heterosexual marriages, and 1,200 same-sex marriages. The number of same-sex marriages stayed relatively consistent from 2009 to 2022, with the fewest in 2020 and the most in 2001. The number of heterosexual marriages also remained stable between 2009 and 2019, with the highest in 2002 and the fewest in 2019 as a consequence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) oandemic.

Why were there fewer marriages in 2020?

There was a sudden drop in the number of marriages in the Netherlands in 2020, both for heterosexual and same-sex marriages. The primary reason for the fall in marriages was the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, making it difficult to host a wedding safely and within the restrictions, resulting in many weddings being postponed and canceled. While there were fewer weddings, the number of registered partnerships stayed relatively the same, possibly because they are less likely to host large gatherings of people than a traditional wedding.

How did the Netherlands compare to the rest of Europe?

The Netherlands was not the only country to experience a significant drop in marriages in Europe. Other European countries such as Italy, Norway, and France saw considerable declines in the number of weddings in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and each government’s restrictions.

PART I: Distribution table: Interval Frequency Cumulative Frequency Percentage distribution Cumulative percentage distribution 10-12 2 2 13.33 13.33 12.1-14 5 7 33.33 46.66 14.1-16 8 15 53.33 99.99 16.1-18 0 15 0 99.99

18.1 0 15 0 99.99

Majority of the countries, eight, fall in the 14.1-16 category. Five countries fall in the 12.1-14 category and two countries in the 10-12 bin. The remaining categories have zero entries. This means the data does not follow a normal distribution since most of the countries are concentrated at the highest peak. This data could be better visualized in a histogram.

Frequency distribution with revised interval: Interval Frequency Cumulative Frequency Percentage Frequency Cumulative percentage <12 2 2 13.33 13.33 12-12.9 1 3 6.67 20 13-13.9 4 7 26.67 46.67 14-14.9 4 11 26.67 73.34 15-15.9 3 14 20 93.34 16-16.9 1 15 6.67 100.01 17-17.9 0 15 0 100.01

18 0 15 0 100.01 Eight countries have between 14% and 18% of their population above age 65. The number of countries with 14% - 18% of their population above 65 years remain the same even after revising the interval. The percentage of countries that have between 14-18 percent of their population above age 65 is 53.33%.

PART II Q1. Time series chart for divorce rate in Netherlands

Q2. Describe divorce rate in Netherlands before and after 1970. There is a decline in divorce rate between 1950 and 1960. There is a moderate rise in divorce rate between 1960 and 1970, the rate steadily rises between 1970 and 1980 and thereafter exhibits a slight decline between 1980 and 1990. The rate shifts to a declining trend after the year 2000. The decline does not indicate negative number of divorces, this could be attributed to increased population size and fewer number of divorce cases filed. Q3. A bar graph would best display the divorce rate for each year, hence easy comparison. Q4. Bar graph The highest number of divorce cases were recorded in the year 2000, while the least number was observed in 1960.

Set 2: Show how different elements contributed to population change in 2018

Immigration contributed 34 percent of the change in population; births, Emigration, and deaths contributed almost equal change in population.

Q2. Elements of population growth

Immigration contributed the largest change in population growth compared to birth.

Q3. A time series to show changes in male and female population

Both populations show an increasing trend over the 4 years. We could also conclude there are more females than males in the country’s population.

Reasons that played an important role in the last (real) divorce for people (sample) in the Netherlands who were 18-62 years old in 2003.

The figures in this publication are based on the Research Family Formation (OG) 2003. Respondents were able to give several reasons, so the sum of the percentages could be more than one hundred percent.

The percentages in the table should be interpreted with caution. Especially when it comes to relatively small numbers of respondents. When interpreting the sampling rates, account should be taken of the fact that the results do not have to be an exact reflection of the population from which the sample was drawn. A number of causes such as non-response and accidental sampling errors are the cause of this. This means that there are margins around the sample rates.

Data available only: 2003.

Status of the figures: One-off Family Formation Research (OG) 2003

Change as of 9 December 2016: None, this table has been discontinued.

When are new figures coming? No longer applicable.

This statistic shows the number of marriage dissolutions in the Netherlands from 1950 to 2022, per 1,000 marriages. Between 1950 and 2022, the number of dissolved marriages increased significantly. In 1950 of every 1,000 marriages 18.6 were dissolved, either because of a divorce or the death of one of the partners. By 2022, this had increased to 26.6.