Marriage is out of fashion in Europe
MARRIAGE RATES have fallen dramatically in most major European countries over the past decade, as austerity, generational crisis and apathy towards the institution deter record numbers of young people from tying the knot.
The number of weddings has fallen to historical lows in France and Spain and has tumbled in other Catholic countries such as Italy, Ireland, Poland and Portugal, according to national and European data.
But people have also fallen out of love with marriage in countries as varied as Greece, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands and Britain. Only in parts of Scandinavia, the Baltic republics and Germany is the institution retaining its allure.
In Italy there were fewer than 200,000 marriages last year, the lowest number since the first world war. Numbers have fallen by 24 per cent in the past decade and halved since 1965. Preliminary data indicated that the rate of marriages in Italy last year was 3.3 per 1000 citizens, said Istat (Italy’s National Institute of Statistics), ‘‘the lowest in modern history’’.
‘‘The fall has been very significant and beyond all expectation,’’ said the institute’s chairman, Antonio Golini.
‘‘ The cultural causes are that marriage has become less important from a religious and civil point of view, because many young people live together without marrying.’’
Economic crisis not only means people wanting to save money on a party. A study this year found that almost half of people aged 18-30 in Europe still live with their parents, because of a lack of jobs, large debts and rising property costs.