Marriage and divorce rates are important indicators of societal trends, reflecting shifts in relationships, family structures, and the overall well-being of individuals and communities.
In 2022, crude marriage rates were between 3 and 5 marriages per 1 000, with the OECD average standing at 4.3 (Figure 4.10). The marriage rate is very low in Colombia at 1.4 marriages per 1 000 people, while rates are at 6 per 1 000 or above in Hungary, Latvia, Türkiye and the United States. In 1990, most OECD countries had a marriage rate of 5 to 7 marriages per 1 000 people. Only Hungary and Iceland experienced an increase in marriage rates between 1990 and 2022.
Crude divorce rates also vary across countries, from as low as 0.6 divorces per 1 000 people in Colombia to 3.6 per 1 000 in Chile in 2022. Between 1990 and 2022, the picture was mixed: the rates increased in 13 OECD countries but decreased in 16 others. The decline was most pronounced in the United States, while the increase was highest in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Restrictions put in place during the first year of the COVID‑19 pandemic including social distancing requirements, size limits on gatherings and travel restrictions had a direct impact on marriage‑rates in 2020 in most countries. On average across 35 OECD countries for which data are available, marriage rates declined by 25%. In 2021, marriage rates increased again by 10%. On average across OECD countries, divorce rates declined by 10% in 2020.
Declining marriage rates and stabilising divorce rates are accompanied by higher ages of marriage. Across the OECD, the average age at which people get married has significantly increased (Figure 4.11). At the start of the 1990s, the average age at first marriage across OECD countries was 25 years of age for women and 28 for men. By 2021, this average age has increased to close to 32 years of age for women and to 34 for men. Despite common declining trends in increasing ages at first marriage, there remain notable differences between countries. The average age is very high in most Mediterranean and Nordic countries. In Israel and Türkiye, by contrast, the average age at first marriage is around 25 for women and less than 28 for men. The difference between countries points to a variety of transition paths towards the formation of long-term partnerships: cohabitation has become an important form of long-term partnership in, for example, the Nordic countries, where people are postponing and frequently replacing marriage as the partnership standard.
No OECD country allowed same‑sex partners to marry in 1999, but by 2022 same‑sex marriages were formally recognised in 25 OECD countries or at least in some parts of their national territories (Table 4.1). On average across 20 OECD countries with available data, same‑sex marriages represented 2.2% of all marriages in 2021/22, varying from 1.2% in Iceland to over 3% in Australia and the United Kingdom. In all but four countries (Costa Rica, Iceland, Portugal. and Switzerland), there were more female same‑sex marriages than male same‑sex marriages in the early 2020s. On average, 56% of same‑sex marriages were among women.
