Marriages that end in divorce last an average of 16.1 years in Spain, while the European average is 14.1 years. Our country is the fourth in Europe where marriages last the longest.
Only in Italy, Portugal, and Bulgaria have unions existed longer than in Spain. This is estimated by the site SugarDaters, which is based on data from the Divorce by Duration of Marriage work from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Almost a third of relationships in Spanish territory, 32.5%, break up in the first ten years, 33.9% break up after 10 to 19 years of marriage, and 20.3% divorce after 20 to 19 years. 29 years together. The remaining 13.3% do so three decades after the wedding.
Fewer breakups
In 2022, there were 84,551 cases of annulment, separation, and divorce in Spain, a decrease of 6.7% compared to the previous year and a rate of 1.8 per thousand inhabitants.
According to Alexandra Olariu, marketing director at SugarDaters, the mentality is changing and contributing to the change in data: “We clearly see that more traditional countries such as Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, or Spain record longer average marriage lengths. Certainly these averages will fluctuate downward over time over the next decade, in parallel with the mentality changes that younger people are driving.”
Lower average in Europe
The average length of a marriage in Europe is 14.1 years, shorter than in Spain, although it lasts the longest in Italy with an average of 18.7 years. This is followed by Portugal, where connections last an average of 17.5 years, and Bulgaria, with 16.3 years.
After Spain, which takes fourth place in the ranking with 16.1 years, Poland (15.7 years), Greece and Slovenia (both with 15.6), Switzerland (15.5), Croatia (15.4), and Slovakia (15.3) follow. From 11th place onwards, we find countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
The fourth-year critic
In Azerbaijan, Georgia, and North Macedonia, more than half of divorced marriages break up in the first nine years, although these three countries also record the highest percentage of first-year divorces. In Georgia, up to 4.9% of divorces take place in the first twelve months of cohabitation, while in Serbia it is only 1.8%.
In Europe, it is the fourth year of marriage that records the most separations and divorces at 4.5%, while only 0.2% of failed relationships fail before the first anniversary.
