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The rise in the marriage rate in the older age groups may reflect a trend among many young people who have been living together for some years, and have thus delayed marriage until later.
A total of 21,700 couples got married last year in Norway. This is about 1,100 more than the year before. Among those who have never been married, the number of marriage in the age group 30 to 44 years have increased somewhat in the last two years. At the same time, increasingly fewer people are getting married before age 25.
The marriage rate also rose among people 30 years of age and older who have been married before. Nearly 19 per cent of those who got married last year had been married before.
The average age of those getting married for the first time was 30 for men and 27.6 for women. Ten years ago, the average ages were lower by 2.5 and 2.7 years, respectively.
The number of couples married in a civil ceremony totalled 5,600 last year and accounted for 26 per cent of all marriages. This is a slight decline from 1994. In the first half of the 1980s, civil ceremonies were very popular, accounting for 37 per cent of all marriages.
If current trends continue as in 1995, calculations show that 39 per cent of men will still be unmarried at age 50.
Most partnerships in Oslo
A total of 98 domestic partnerships were formalized in 1995, 38 fewer than in 1994 and 60 fewer than in 1993 when the Act permitting registered partnerships took effect. Two out of three partnerships were between male partners. In over half of the partnerships, the parties were residents of Oslo.
Weekly Bulletin issue no. 46, 1996