EU Marriage & Divorce Rates: Eurostat Data (1964-Present)

European marriage rates have fallen by more than half since 1964, while divorce rates have doubled across the European Union, according to data released by Eurostat on March 20, 2026. An estimated 1.7 million marriages and 700,000 divorces occurred in the EU in 2024.

The crude marriage rate stood at 3.9 marriages per 1,000 persons in 2024, a significant decline from the 8 per 1,000 recorded in 1964. While the overall trend has been downward, Eurostat data reveal intermediate peaks in 1989 (6.4 per 1,000), 2000 (5.2 per 1,000), 2007 (5.0 per 1,000), and 2018 (4.5 per 1,000). The most substantial recent drop occurred between 2019 (4.3 per 1,000) and 2020 (3.2 per 1,000), a decrease of almost 25 percent attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The rate has since seen a slight recovery, reaching 3.9 per 1,000 in 2024.

Conversely, the crude divorce rate has risen from 0.8 per 1,000 persons in 1964 to 1.6 per 1,000 in 2024. The divorce rate peaked in 2006 at 2.1 per 1,000 persons and has experienced a slight decline since then. Eurostat noted that the increase in divorce rates over the decades may be partly linked to the legalization of divorce in several EU countries, including Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Malta.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic likewise appeared to affect divorce rates, with a slight decrease observed between 2019 and 2020, though the reduction was less pronounced – around 10 percent – than that seen in marriage rates.

Recent data from 2023 indicates significant variation in divorce rates across European countries. Finland recorded the highest divorce rate, with more than 55 divorces per 100 marriages, while Ireland had the lowest, at 15.5 divorces per 100 marriages, according to Statista.

The Eurostat data is available as CSV, JSON-STAT, PX, and XLSX files through data.gov.ie, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.