Half of Malaga province couples who divorce do not have dependent children

According to sociologist Elisa Chuliá, the complicated logistics, time management and financial cost involved in a single parent raising children play a part. "That is something that discourages divorce," Chuliá says.

In 2025, there were a total of 3,047 divorces in Malaga province. Of these, just over half (1,559 or 51%) involved couples without dependent children, compared with 1,489 divorces among married couples with children still living in the same household.

After couples without dependent children, the next largest group consisted of couples with two or more dependent children, accounting for 890 divorces last year.

Meanwhile, almost 600 marriages with one dependent child, either a minor or an adult child who had not yet become financially independent, also ended in divorce.

These figures come from a report the national institute of statistics (INE) published on Thursday.

The trend is more pronounced in Malaga than across Spain as a whole. Nationally, couples with no dependent children account for 47% of divorces, meaning they make up slightly less than half of all marital breakdowns.

Another indicator points in the same direction. Looking at the past decade, the total number of divorces in Malaga province fell by 14.4%, from more than 3,500 in 2015 to 3,047 in 2025. Among couples with no dependent children, however, the decline was much smaller, at just 6%, compared with just over 1,600 divorces ten years earlier.

By contrast, divorces involving couples with one dependent child fell by almost 30%, while those involving couples with two or more dependent children dropped by 16% over the same period.

The length of marriages also helps explain the figures. Almost 2,000 of last year's divorces involved couples who had been married for at least ten years, making it likely that many had children who were already adults and financially independent.

"The constraints of raising children don't last forever," Chuliá says. "Some couples decide to stay together for another three or four years if the situation remains bearable."

She says several factors influence when couples with children eventually decide to divorce, including their working hours, the flexibility of their jobs, whether relatives can help with childcare and their household income.

The overall trend shows divorce rates declining in recent years. In Malaga, the 3,047 divorces recorded last year compare with almost 3,800 in 2019, the highest figure since comparable records began in 2013. Divorce numbers have not returned to those pre-pandemic levels.

The same pattern appears across Spain. Divorces fell by 16.3% over the past decade, from 96,562 in 2015 to 80,785 last year. The decline in legal separations has played only a minor role in that trend. In Málaga, separations fell from 173 to 120 over the same period, while nationally they dropped from 4,652 to 2,872.

Chuliá believes the fall in divorce rates reflects not only a decline in the number of marriages but also the fact that people take more time to choose a partner, even if that results in fewer marriages overall.

Last year, however, Malaga bucked the national trend. Across Spain, the number of divorces fell by 2.7%, whereas Malaga's total remained virtually unchanged at around 3,000.

Changes varied widely between provinces, although the biggest percentage increases and decreases occurred mainly in smaller provinces, where relatively small changes produce larger percentage swings.

Palencia recorded the largest increase, with divorces rising by 22.6%, from 177 to 217. Teruel saw the sharpest fall, with numbers dropping by 28.5%, from 235 to 168.

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