Number of marriage on wane, divorce ups

A total of 22,082 marriages were contracted in 2020, which is 214 lower than the number of the previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

Meanwhile, a total of 13,478 marriages ended in divorce in 2020. Except for 88 of them, all were divorces where the spouses were of opposite sexes. The number of divorces between opposite-sex spouses increased by 79 from the previous year.

Although the number of marriages decreased only 214 in last year, it was decreased by 1,503 in the year before.

Out of the marriages, 21,687 were took place between opposite-sex couples, which is 233 fewer than in the year before. The number of marriages between Same-sex partners was 395, which is 19 higher than the previous year.

In 2020, the average age of women and men entering into their first marriage rose for opposite-sex couples. The average age of women was 32.6 years, in the previous year 32.1, and that of men 34.7 years, in the year before 34.2.

In 2020, the average age in marriages between two women was 35.8 years, the same as one year earlier. Correspondingly, the average age in marriages between two men was 42.2 years, five-tenths higher than in the previous year.

In 2020, same-sex partners entered into 395 marriages of which 123 were between two men and 272 between two women. The number increased only a little from the previous year when 376 marriages were contracted. Women entered into nine marriages more than in the previous year, men into 10 more.

August was the most popular month for marriage in 2020.

Meanwhile, the annual number of divorces has fluctuated without a clear direction. The year 2020 was the second successive year when the number of divorces grew. The annual changes in the numbers have, however, been so small that the divorce rate, i.e. the number of divorces in relation to married persons, has remained at the same level for over 20 years: 13 to 14 divorces per one thousand married women or men.

The divorce rate grew for women in nearly all age groups compared with the previous year. The divorce rate also increased for men in most age groups, with the exception of the 45 to 54 age group and those aged 65 or over, whose divorce rate decreased from the previous year

The number of same-sex partnerships ending in divorce in 2015 to 2017 was close to 130. After that, the number of divorces has decreased.

In 2019, they numbered 72 and in 2020 slightly fewer, 69. In order to gain a better understanding of the total number of divorces of same-sex couples, divorces of married same-sex couples, 88 in 2020, must be added to the figure above Then the number is 157, which is clearly higher than the divorces of the previous year, 126. The sizeable increase in the number is due to growth in the number of same-sex divorces, from 54 to 88.