Germany records more weddings, fewer divorces in 2022
June 28, 2023
The number of couples who decided to tie the knot in Germany increased significantly in 2022, compared to 2021, according to figures released by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) on Wednesday.
There were 391,000 weddings in the country last year, an increase of 9.2% from the all-time low number in 2021.
"A number of couples willing to get married have probably postponed their wedding until after the pandemic," according to Destatis demographic expert, Bettina Sommer.
Number of divorces in Germany decreases
The number of divorces fell by 3.8% in the same period.
Sommer pointed out that, except for 2019, the number of divorces have been declining in Germany since 2012.
"Effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the number of divorces are still not discernible in 2022," she added.
According to the statistics, about 17.7% of all divorced couples have been married for at least 25 years.
On average, couples divorcing in 2022 had been married for 15 years and one month.
However, 25 years earlier, the average was for 12 years and 4 months.
Data showed that in 89.5% of divorces, the petition was filed with the consent of one spouse and in 6.6% of cases both spouses filed it together.
But the number of divorces among same-sex couples increased 10% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Thousands of children impacted by divorce
The federal data office estimated that a little more than half of divorced couples in 2022 had underage children.
A large number of them had one child, 39.7% had two and 11.2% had three children or more.
In total, around 115,800 children were affected by their parent's divorce, the federal office noted.
ara/lo (dpa/Destatis)
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