A wedding and then sometimes, a divorce. (source: Sme - Miroslava Cibulková)
LAST YEAR, 3,335 men living in the Bratislava Region married, 74 less than the previous year, the TASR newswire reported based on data from Slovakia’s Statistics Office. The most weddings – 806 – involved grooms from Bratislava V district and the fewest, 238, lived in Bratislava I district. Last year’s nuptials were the first marriages for 80.93 percent of the men and 84.2 percent of the women.
The most numerous group of lovebirds tying the knot involved men between age 30 and 34 (34.6 percent) with brides from age 25 to 29 (40 percent). There were 241 men and 124 women who were newlyweds at age 50 or older.
The average age of those married in Bratislava Region last year was 34.43 for men and 31.35 for women and this was the highest average age among all of Slovakia’s eight regions. The lowest average age was in Prešov Region with men marrying at an average age of 29.44 and women at an average age of 26.67. The overall average age for newlyweds across Slovakia was 31.91 years for men and 28.84 years for women.
The number of divorces also declined last year. In 2009, there were 1,713 divorces and the number decreased last year to 1,686. Women had filed the majority of petitions for divorce – 61.9 percent. Parents with minor children were involved in 53.7 percent of the divorces.
The average length of marriage of those who divorced last year was 14.6 years. The most frequent reasons for divorce stated by both the men and women (78.6 percent) were differences in temperament, character, opinions and interests. The average ages of those who divorced in 2010 was 42.4 for men and 39.9 for women.
The Statistics Office reported that the divorce rate, the number of divorces per 1,000 residents in Bratislava, fell from 2.76 percent in 2009 to last year’s 2.69. The highest divorce rate, at 2.97 percent, was in Bratislava III and the lowest rate, 2.21 percent, was in Bratislava I.
However, the divorce index – the number of divorces per 100 weddings – grew from 50.1 in 2009 to 50.4 in 2010 with the Malacky district, near Bratislava, having the highest divorce index, at 65.64, and Bratislava I district having the lowest, at 37.82.
