Fewer marriages

Published:

A total of 22 500 couples married in 2016. This is about 1 000 fewer than the average for the preceding ten years. A total of 9 300 couples divorced, and 10 800 separated.

Figur 1. Marriages, divorces and separations¹

Marriages Divorces Separations
1975 25898 5406 6943
1976 25389 5648 7237
1977 24022 5912 7497
1978 23690 6063 7486
1979 23055 6441 8271
1980 22230 6466 8641
1981 22271 6937 9183
1982 21706 6973 9843
1983 20803 7472 9942
1984 20537 7781 10079
1985 20221 8090 10193
1986 19873 7813 10117
1987 20285 8342 10616
1988 20806 8689 11307
1989 19950 9163 12480
1990 21123 10055 12825
1991 19065 10164 12350
1992 18627 10106 12146
1993 18897 10805 11928
1994 19999 10795 11883
1995 21079 10184 11975
1996 22605 9839 11142
1997 23050 9827 11487
1998 22464 9227 11607
1999 23600 9147 11912
2000 25510 10083 12940
2001 23152 10338 12810
2002 24252 10494 13076
2003 22565 10807 12820
2004 22546 11092 13249
2005 22584 11102 12818
2006 21948 10658 12212
2007 23738 10330 11483
2008 25349 10216 11836
2009 24582 10308 12017
2010 23577 10311 11800
2011 23135 10261 11294
2012 24346 9987 11137
2013 23410 9774 10944
2014 22887 9556 10824
2015 22738 9306 10507
2016 22537 9345 10842

A total of 278 same sex couples married in 2016; 121 between two men and 157 between two women. From the year before, this was a decrease of 30 marriages between women, while the number of marriages between men was about the same. From 1993 to 2005, there were more partnerships between men than between women, whereas from 2006 there were more partnerships/marriages between women than between men.

Figure 2. Registered partnerships 1993-2008. Marriages of two persons of the same sex 2009-2016

Men Women
1993 115 41
1994 86 47
1995 64 34
1996 80 47
1997 74 43
1998 71 44
1999 82 62
2000 78 76
2001 108 77
2002 105 78
2003 116 88
2004 107 85
2005 97 95
2006 102 125
2007 110 157
2008 90 134
2009 105 178
2010 97 167
2011 93 166
2012 102 167
2013 90 162
2014 106 163
2015 113 187
2016 121 157

Fewer first-time marriages

Compared to 2015, the first-time marriage rate for both men and women aged 20-44 years fell, while women and men aged 45-54 years saw a slight increase. The marriage rate is still high in the age group 30-34 years for both men and women, and the average age for first-time marriages in 2016 was 34.6 years for men and 31.9 years for women.

Figure 3. Marriage rates for first time married males in selected age groups

1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
20-24 years 86 81 72 65 61 56 48 44 39 35 32 30 26 24 20 19 16 15 15 15 14 13 13 13 12 12 11 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 9 9 8 7 7 7
25-29 years 130 125 118 113 109 100 94 89 84 79 76 75 67 68 58 54 53 52 53 53 53 49 48 51 44 46 42 39 38 35 36 36 38 36 34 35 34 31 30 29
30-34 years 75 73 73 69 68 66 63 63 61 59 62 61 59 63 55 54 50 52 54 59 59 56 56 62 55 57 53 53 51 50 53 55 52 50 45 47 45 44 43 41
35-39 years 34 33 34 33 33 31 32 31 35 29 34 34 32 37 32 31 30 33 34 38 38 39 41 45 40 42 39 38 40 38 43 46 43 39 37 39 37 35 33 33
40-44 years 18 16 15 17 13 15 15 16 19 15 18 17 16 19 16 15 17 18 18 21 22 23 26 26 25 25 24 25 25 25 28 31 28 26 26 26 25 24 23 22
45-49 years 9 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 11 7 10 9 8 10 10 8 9 11 11 13 13 13 15 17 16 17 15 16 16 17 18 20 18 18 18 18 18 16 16 16

Figure 4. Average age of marriage among first time married¹

Men Women
1974 25.3 22.8
1975 25.3 22.9
1976 25.5 22.9
1977 25.7 23.1
1978 25.9 23.2
1979 26.1 23.6
1980 26.2 23.6
1981 26.3 23.7
1982 26.5 24.0
1983 26.8 24.3
1984 27.0 24.4
1985 27.5 24.9
1986 27.5 24.9
1987 27.9 25.3
1988 28.1 25.5
1989 28.3 25.8
1990 28.8 26.2
1991 29.0 26.4
1992 29.2 26.6
1993 29.4 26.9
1994 29.8 27.2
1995 30.0 27.6
1996 30.5 28.0
1998 30.6 28.3
1998 31.1 28.6
1999 31.6 28.9
2000 31.8 29.2
2001 32.0 29.3
2002 32.2 29.5
2003 32.5 29.7
2004 32.9 30.0
2005 33.2 30.4
2006 33.4 30.6
2007 33.7 30.8
2008 34.1 31.2
2009 33.8 31.0
2010 33.8 30.9
2011 34.0 31.1
2012 34.1 31.3
2013 34.2 31.4
2014 34.3 31.6
2015 34.4 31.8
2016 34.6 31.9

Unchanged number of divorces

The number of divorces was at the same level as in the previous year, while there were 335 more separations than in 2015. A total of 78 couples of the same sex divorced and 96 same-sex couples separated.

Low divorce rate

The divorce rate, which is the number divorced per 1 000 married and separated persons in the population was 9.7 for men and 10.2 for women in 2016. For women, the divorce figure was highest for those aged 40-44, and for men, the rate was highest for those aged 40-49.

In 2016, the parents of 8 500 children below the age of 18 divorced, and the corresponding figure for separating parents was 11 600. Statistics Norway does not have figures for cohabitants with children who separate.