Statistics revealed:

Fewer weddings and divorces in the previous year

(Bild: dpa/Friso Gentsch)

Last year, a total of 44,924 marriages were solemnized and 1857 registered partnerships were established in Austria. In the same period, 14,344 marriages were divorced in court and 159 registered partnerships were dissolved.

"There were fewer weddings and fewer divorces in Austria in 2024 than in the previous year," said Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria. In total, 931 fewer couples got married at the registry office than in 2023. At the same time, there were also 377 fewer divorces. There was also a decline in registered partnerships: 98 fewer couples opted for this form of partnership than in the same period last year, but 22 fewer couples dissolved their partnerships.

The provisional number of marriages in 2024 was 931 fewer than in the previous year. That is a drop of two percent. Same-sex marriages, which have been possible in Austria since 1 January 2019, were performed by a total of 779 couples in the previous year. This represents a decrease of 0.8 percent. According to the evaluations, there were also 37 conversions from registered partnerships to marriages.

Fewer weddings in eight federal states
In eight federal states, fewer marriages were performed in the previous year than in the year before. The sharpest declines were recorded in Burgenland (minus 14.8 percent), followed by Tyrol (minus 4.9 percent) and Salzburg (minus 3.8 percent). Only in Styria did more people say yes to each other (plus 2.3%).

Registered partnerships were entered into by 1,737 opposite-sex couples (down 5.8%) and 120 same-sex couples (up 7.1%). According to the current analysis, there were fewer registered partnerships in five federal states in 2024 than in the previous year. The most significant decreases were recorded in Lower Austria (minus 15.5%) and Upper Austria (minus 11.3%). There was a significant increase in Burgenland (plus 16%) and Styria (plus 15.1%).

According to preliminary data, there were 14,344 divorces in the previous year, 2.6 percent fewer legal separations. The number fell in eight federal states, most significantly in Carinthia (down 7 percent), followed by Tyrol (down 6.7 percent) and Upper Austria (down 4.4 percent). Only in Lower Austria was there an increase of 4.4 percent.