The number of weddings in the Czech Republic in 2024 was the second lowest since the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, according to preliminary data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU). The only year to see fewer marriages was 2013.
Last year, 44,486 couples got married in the Czech Republic; the record low in 2013 saw almost 1,000 fewer.
According to other information presented in the CSU magazine, the number of marriages between Czech and foreign citizens has increased in the past decade, reaching a high of 15% the previous year. The divorce rate, which has remained below 40% for the past four years, has also fallen.
The highest number of weddings in the Czech Republic in one year came in 1920 (135,714 marriages). In this context, the statisticians say that in addition to the many positives marriage brings to people in the social and emotional spheres, it also fulfils a certain “protective” function against premature death, as married people have a lower mortality rate than the divorced and widowed. However, the fact that those with quite serious health problems often do not enter marriage also plays a role. In the years after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, unmarried people have had a mortality rate 1.8 times higher than the married.
According to CSU, the annual number of newlyweds in the Czech Republic has fluctuated over the past 11 years. It increased in the five years after 2013, and then alternately fell and rose in the following years. The high during this period was in 2019, when 54,900 couples got married.
Three-quarters of all weddings are first-time weddings, according to the statisticians, with the average age over the last decade of 32-33 years for grooms, and 30-31 years for brides. A quarter of weddings are not the first for one or both of the fiances.
Divorcees are most likely to have another wedding quite soon after a divorce, and their willingness to remarry declines with time, the statisticians said.
Last year, 20,800 marriages were divorced, compared with 26,764 a decade earlier, according to preliminary CSU data. The average time between marriage and divorce is now 13.5 years.
In the past few years, the age group facing most divorces was those between 45 and 49, however, the youngest generation under 25 are proportionally the most likely to divorce (the number of divorces at a given age per 1,000 married people). With increasing age, the divorce rate for both men and women tends to fall, the statisticians added.
