Albania has the highest marriage rate in Europe. According to Eurostat, in 2024 there were 6,8 marriages per 1 inhabitants, the same rate as in 2022, much higher than the European average of 3.9.
In second place is North Macedonia, but the latest data from this country is from 2021. Data is missing for Kosovo, which has a young population and a high number of marriages. In the region, the lowest marriage rate is in Serbia, with 4.6 marriages per 1000 inhabitants.
After Albania, the highest gross marriage rates were recorded in Turkey, at 6,6, and Moldova, at 6,1.
In Albania, the marriage rate was relatively high in the 1980s-1990s, peaking in 1990, with 8,9 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants. After this period, a gradual decline is observed.
On the other hand, divorces in Albania have become more common compared to the past. In 2024, the rate was 2,0 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants, while in 1964 it was only 0,6, which represents an increase of about 233%.
The peak was reached in 2019, with 2,1 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. The divorce rate is above the European average, which was 1.6 in 2024.
Albania ranked 11th for the highest number of divorces per population in 2024. Excluding the Baltic countries, which lead in divorces per population, with a rate per 1000 inhabitants of 4 in Moldova, 2.5 in Lithuania and 2.1 in Estonia, Albania ranks fifth in Europe, behind Denmark (2.1), Turkey (2.2), Finland (2.1) and Sweden (2.1).
The Baltic countries have high divorce rates mainly because divorce is more socially acceptable, legally easier, and women have more economic independence.
In Albania, the latest INSTAT figures show that the number of marriages has fallen to a historic low, while divorces have taken the opposite direction, reaching peaks never seen before. The year 2024 marks a historic low with only 16,120 marriages, down from around 29,000 in 1990.
On the contrary, divorces have increased. In 2024, there were a total of 4800 divorces, up from about 2700 in 1990. In the country, practically a third of marriages do not last "until death do you part."
In Europe, Italy's neighbors, where there are many Albanian immigrants, are practically not getting married anymore. Italy had the lowest rate of marriages per 1000 inhabitants, at just 2.9, or more than half of Albania's. Marriages are also low in neighboring Greece (3.5), where more than half of Albanian immigrants live.
Fewer marriages, fewer divorces
According to Eurostat, there were about 1,7 million marriages and about 0,7 million divorces in the EU in 2024. In relation to the population, these figures are 3,9 marriages for every 1,000 people and 1,6 divorces for every 1,000 people.
Since 1964, the first year for which data are available, the gross marriage rate in the EU has decreased by more than 50% in relative terms, from 8,0 per 1,000 people in 1964 to 3,9 in 2024. The downward trend has been interrupted by some temporary increases in 1989, at 6,4 per 1,000 people; 2000, at 5,2; 2007, at 5,0; and 2018, at 4,5.
The significant decline observed between 2019, with 4,3 per 1,000 people, and 2020, with 3,2, in the crude marriage rate can be interpreted as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a decrease of almost 25%. Since then, a slight increase in the crude marriage rate has been observed, which is estimated at 3,9 in 2024.
Over the same long period, the gross divorce rate has almost doubled, rising from 0,8 per 1,000 people in 1964 to 1,6 in 2024. The divorce rate peaked in 2006, at 2,1 per 1,000 people, and has been declining slightly since then.
In 2024, Malta had the lowest divorce rate in the EU, with 0,9 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Slovenia and Romania. The highest rates were recorded in the Baltic countries, mainly Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Estonia, Finland and Sweden.
Part of this increase can be explained by the fact that divorce was legalized in several EU countries during this period, such as Italy, Spain, Ireland and Malta.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic also appears to have affected the divorce rate, as evidenced by the slight decline between 2019 and 2020. However, the decrease in the gross divorce rate was much less pronounced, around 10%, than that in the gross marriage rate. Since then, this value has remained almost unchanged./Monitor
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