Fewer Danes walking down the aisle

More Danes than ever are forsaking marriage, but at least divorce rates are the same

Walking down the aisle and staring into each other's eyes whilst pledging everlasting love and devotion is not as appealing in Denmark as it used to be.

According to a new report from Statistics Denmark, the number of Danes getting married has dwindled in recent years.

In 2011, only 27,200 people were married, a decrease of 12 percent from the previous year, and the lowest number in three decades. Not since 1983 have so few Danes exchanged wedding vows.

Experts suggest that a combination of factors have led the figure to plummet since 2008, including the ongoing financial crisis, a parting from tradition and growing up with parents that have divorced. With the recent announcement that gays and lesbians can get married beginning in June, 2012 might be able to reverse the trend.

The new statistics also indicated that while marriage is less popular, so too is getting a divorce. The divorce rate in 2011 remained the same as in 2010 at 40.2 percent.

The most popular day to get married in 2011 was on November 11 (11-11-11) when 1,072 couples said “I do” to one another.

Marriage and children traditionally go hand in hand, and national numbers have also revealed that the national birth rate was also quite low in 2011. According to a report compiled earlier this month by the national board of health, Sundhedsstyrelsen, just over 59,500 babies were born in Denmark in 2011, some 4,000 fewer than the year before and the lowest birth rate since 1988.

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