In 2011, the number of marriages contracted in Estonia grew 9% while the number of divorces grew 4%, writes LETA/National Broadcasting. According to the Statistics Yearbook 2011, during the past two years the marriages that have lasted up to 4 years have dissolved the most frequently.
In 2011, a total of 3,099 marriages were divorced – 4% more than in 2010. 29% of divorces involve marriages that had lasted up to four years. A year before this indicator was 30%.
26% of divorces involved marriages that had lasted at least 20 ears, 23% involve marriages that had lasted 5-9 years. The least number of divorces (10%) dissolved marriages that had lasted 15-19 years.
The Statistics Board commented that the numbers ought to be viewed while taking into account how many marriages were contracted during the relevant years. The peak year for contracting marriages, 2007, fell into the category of marriages lasting 0-4 years in the context of 2011 statistics and hence the share of marriages that had lasted four years was higher. In the past three years, the median length of dissolved marriages had been nine years.
In the past two years, the share of divorces where the couple had common children who were minors increased. In 2011, 55% of divorced couples had at least one common minor child. 3.5% of couples had three or more common minor children.
A total of 5,499 marriages were contracted in 2011, designating an end to a recent major decline in the number of marriages contracted. Nevertheless, the 2011 indicator was far behind the peak years 2006 and 2007 when 6,954 marriages and 7,022 marriages, respectively, were concluded.
More than a quarter (27%) of men and women who married had previously already been married.
Nearly 30% of couples that entered matrimony had common children and 9% had two or more children that they shared.
In 2011, the age of men entering marriage grew 0.4 years and that of women 0.3 years. The average age of men when contracting their first marriage is 30.8 and for women 28.2 years.
Since the year 1994, the average age of women when contracting their first marriage has been higher than the average age of mothers upon the birth of their first child; many women first give birth to a child and get marred afterwards. In 2011, the difference between these two indicators was 1.8 years.