In the last three years, Spain has gained 1.2 million singles. In exchange it has added… 105,000 married people

Spain is (increasingly) a country of singles. Although there are still more married than divorced, separated, widowed or people without an ‘official’ partner, the latest statistics from the INE reveal that the sum of these last categories already exceeds that of those who have said ‘yes I want’. Logical if you take into account that in the last three years the number of married people has grown by 0.5% while the number of single people shot up by 9.2% and the number of divorced people by another 8.8%. These are data that must be handled with some caution, but they show that something is changing.

New times, new ways of living.

A country of singles. That singleness is gaining strength as a vital plan is nothing new. We have been talking about the ‘great recession’ of romantic love, spin entry of traditional courtship or even how (despite the rise in prices and the difficulty of accessing credit) more and more people You choose to buy your home alone, without sharing expenses with a partner.

Despite all of the above, it is still interesting to take a look at the INE statistics on the marital status of the population, especially when (how it just happened) show a newly updated photo.

One figure: 14,357,158. The definitive records of the INE show that last year there were 19.06 million married people residing in Spain, 14.53 million single people, 2.91 million widowers and 3.23 million divorced and separated people. If the ‘adult’ population of the country, over 16 years of age, is taken into account, the conclusion is clear: people who have said ‘I do’ continue to represent the largest group. They assume 45.8%compared to 34.9% of singles, 7.8% of divorced people and 7% of widowers.

Does the marriage last? Yes. And no. It is true that it is still the largest group if we talk about marital statuses and it is also true that there are more married people in Spain today than in 2021, but the tables from the INE leave another, much less flattering reading: the married population has grown less than the single or divorced population.

In 2024 there were in Spain 105,537 marrieds more than three years earlier, representing a growth of 0.55%. If we talk about singles, their number has grown by 1.23 million people during the same period, which translates into a rebound of 9.23%. The group of divorced or separated people has gained 261,604 people in three years, with a growth that is close to 8%.

Beyond the INE. The INE is not the only indicator that something is changing in Spanish society. Another (also of a statistical nature) is Eurostat, which has been documenting for a long time how we get married later and later. According to your dataIn 2023, on average, Spaniards said ‘I do’ for the first time at the age of 37 and Spanish women at 34.9. It is interesting for several reasons.

To begin with, because these data place Spain as the European country in which we later made relations official. If we talk about men (37 years) we are tied with Sweden, but if we focus in women (34.9 years) we are above the Nordic nation, where the average is 34.8.

We not only delay our passage through the altar. He has also done it motherhood. In fact, pregnancies among women over 40 years of age have skyrocketed in recent decades to represent close to 10% of the total. The way we face our life horizon has changed so much that there is more and more leisure on offer focused on singles or it is easier, for example, to meet people who decides to buy a home without having a partner.

Less ‘I do’. The trend is also reflected in the last yearbook of the Spanish Episcopal Confederation, although in their case the figures reflect religious links. In 2024 the Church registered 31,462 Catholic weddings, below the 33,500 a year before and far from the more than 110,000 in 2007.

They are values ​​in line with the latest statistics from the INE, although when handling them it is advisable to keep certain keys in mind: their record only tells us about “civil statuses”, so, remember in 20Minutes Pau Miret, CED researcher, does not include those singles who have decided to change marriage for “non-marital cohabitation.” That is, settled couples who share a home and function in practice as a marriage, but choose not to make it official.

Image | Ismail Hamzah (Unsplash)

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