About 129,300 marriages were broken down in Germany in 2024, according to official data released on Thursday.
The figure roughly matched the previous year, with a marginal increase of 0.3% or 329 divorces, the Federal Bureau of Statistics reported.
Data shows that in 2023, there have been the least divorces since Germany was reunified in 1990. According to statistics, the number of divorces has been on a downward trend since 2003, except for a few years.
Family breakup
More than half (50.8%) of divorces in 2024 have children with minors. Data show that 48% of the children have one child, two children have two and 12% have three or more children.
This continues a long-term trend: couples with one child have a decline in divorce rates, while couples with two or more children are increasing. In 2024, a total of about 111,000 minors were affected by their parents’ divorce.
Seven years of itching?
Most of the divorces last year (80.5%) were preceded by a one-year separation period. In 18.5% of cases, the couple has been separated for three years.
On average, couples who divorced in 2024 have been married for 14 years and 8 months. For about 21,200 or 16.4% of couples, divorce occurs after 25 years of marriage.
The number of new marriages has also declined overall. In 2024, 349,200 marriages were registered, 3.3% or 11,800 fewer than in 2023.
In Germany, in 2024, there were 340,400 marriages between a man and a woman and 8,800 marriages between people of the same sex.
