Legal endings of marriages in Andalucía down almost nine per cent

Statistics on divorces, legal separations and marriage annulments in the Andalusian region prepared by the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalucía (IECA), has revealed that during 2022 there were 15,596 marital dissolutions in the region – 8.9% down on the previous year.

Of the total number of dissolutions, some 14,814 were divorces (95%), 776 separations (5%) and six annulments. Of the dissolutions, 302 were for same-sex marriages (1.9%).

The gross rate of marital dissolutions in Andalucía was 1.8 per 1,000 inhabitants (2.0 in 2021), coinciding with the national rate. By provinces, Cordoba, Cadiz and Malaga had the highest rate (1.9 per thousand), while Jaén registered the lowest (1.5 per thousand).

The average duration of dissolved marriages was 16.8 years. By provinces, this indicator reached its maximum in Jaén (18.9 years) and its minimum in Almeria (16.1 years).

According to the IECA, 21.1% of the marriage dissolution lawsuits in Andalucía were filed by the wife, while in 11.3% of the cases the husband did so. Almost half of divorces occurred in marriages without underage children (46.1%). In the case of separations, 61.8% had no underage children.

Finally, in relation to the total number of judgments with underage children, custody was awarded to the mother in 58.9% of divorce or separation cases (61.2% in 2021), to the father in 2.7% (3.7% in the previous year). Custody was shared in 38% of cases (34.8% in 2021), and in 0.4% it was awarded to other institutions or relatives (0.3% in the previous year).