BRUSSELS -
In 2019 Italy recorded the lowest marriage rate in the European Union equal to about 3 marriages per thousand inhabitants
(3.1), followed by Portugal and Slovenia (both 3.2), and by France, Spain , Luxembourg (all 3.5).
In 2018, the rate in Italy was 3.2.
Eurostat
reveals this by
specifying that the long-term trend in the European Union shows that
the number of marriages is decreasing
, while the number of divorces is on the rise. Since 1964, the marriage rate in the Union has decreased from 8.0 per 1000 people in 1964 to 4.3 in 2019. In 2019, the EU countries with the highest number of marriages relative to the population were Cyprus (8 , 9 marriages per 1000 people), Lithuania (7.0), Latvia and Hungary (both 6.7) and Romania (6.6). Followed by Slovakia (5.4), Denmark and Malta (5.3) At the same time,
the divorce rate has more than doubled
, going from 0.8 per 1000 people in 1964 to 1.8 again in 2019. Among the EU Member States, the lowest number of divorces relative to the population was recorded in Malta and Ireland (0.7 divorces per 1000 people), followed by Slovenia (1.2), Italy (1.4) and Croatia (1.5). Conversely, the highest divorce rates were recorded in Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg (all 3.1 divorces per 1 000 people), Cyprus (2.6) and Sweden (2.5).
