Spain: Marriages Plummeted by Nearly 50 Per cent During First Year of Pandemic

In 2020, the first year of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Spain saw its marriage rate fall by nearly half, a decrease significantly higher than many other European nations during the same period.

In 2020, marriages across Spain decreased by 46 per cent compared to the previous year, a significant decrease compared to other countries in Europe such as Germany, where marriages fell by just 10 per cent or France where the number decreased by 34 per cent.

Only countries in Southern Europe saw comparable falls in marriage rates, with Italy seeing a 47 per cent fall in marriages and Portugal at 43 per cent. Ireland saw the greatest marriage rate slump in Europe in 2020 at 53 per cent, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports.

Since 1975 when Spain recorded 271,347 marriages, by 2020 the rate has plunged to just 87,481 in a period of fewer than 50 years.

According to El Mundo, the rate has been steadily falling since the 2008 financial crisis and noted that the five years before the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic saw a rate well below the five years prior to the financial crisis.

Several predominantly Catholic countries in Europe, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, have also seen a new trend emerge that a growing proportion of marriages are second marriages. In 2000, first marriages in Spain represented 95 to 99 per cent of all marriages, while in recent years they represent around 80 per cent.

Along with a decline in marriage rates, Spain saw a similar decline in birth rates during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, with the rate shrinking by over five per cent, while the mortality rate increased by 18 per cent.

Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported that the Spanish birthrate sat at just 1.19 children per woman in 2020, down from 1.24 during the previous year, making Spain one of the countries in Europe with the lowest birth rates.

Despite the falling birthrate, Spain’s overall population grew last year by over 50,000 due entirely to immigration as the number of Spanish nationals decreased by 21,920 and the number of foreign nationals grew by 72,410.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.