(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 13 - Italy's marriage rate was the lowest
in the European Union in 2019 at 3.1 marriages per 1,000
inhabitants, followed by Portugal and Slovenia (both 3.2) and
France, Spain, and Luxembourg at 3.5 per 1,000, Eurostat said
Thursday. In 2018 Italy's rate was 3.2. Eurostat said the number
of marriages was steadily declining and that of divorces
steadily rising. The marriage rate across the Union fell from
8.0 in 1964 to 4.3 in 2019, it said. In 2019, the EU countries
with the highest marriage rates were Cyprus (8.9 marriages per
1000 people), Lithuania (7.0), Latvia and Hungary (both 6.7) and
Romania (6.6). Next came Slovakia (5.4), and Denmark and Malta
(5.3). The divorce rate has more than doubled since 1964,
Eurostat said. It was 0.8 per 1,000 in 1964 and 1.8 in 2019, the
statistics agency said. The lowest divorce rates in 2019 were in
Malta and Ireland (0.7 divorces for every 1000 people), followed
by Slovenia (1.2), Italy (1.4) and Croatia (1.5). The highest
divorce rates were in Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg (all with
3.1 divorces per 1000 people), Cyprus (2.6) and Sweden (2.5).
(ANSA).
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