A total of 20,949 couples got married in Norway last year, the lowest level in 25 years. The number was also down by nearly 1,200 from 2017.
State statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway) reports that fewer marriages hadn’t been performed since 1994, when 19,999 couples tied the knot. Norway also had a much smaller population then, 975,000 less than it is now.
Marriage just doesn’t seem to be as popular or expected, even though samboerskap (recognized partnership without marriage) granted nearly all the rights and privileges of marriage in 1994 as it does now. SSB reported a decline in marriages in all Norwegian counties nationwide except Vestfold, southwest of Oslo.
The number of divorces also declined nationwide in 2018, by around 300 to 9,500, while another 10,600 people separated, which SSB reported as a “slight increase.”
newsinenglish.no staff
