47 divorces recognised in Malta in 2010

According to statistics issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO), a total of 566 separations were registered at the Public Registry in 2010, of which 90% involved marriages where both spouses were Maltese. 47 divorces obtained  abroad were recognised by the Maltese Authorities.

Nearly two-thirds of the divorces were cases where the previous marriage lasted 10 years and over, while just under one-tenth involved  marriages which had taken place less than five years earlier.

124 annulments - 29 religious and  95 civil - were registered in the year under review with the largest proportion regarding previous marriages that had lasted 10-19 years.

Last year also saw an increase in the number of marriages – the highest since 2000. Out of the 2,596 which took place in 2010, 847 were civil marriages. The most popular age for men to get married was between 25 and 29, with 41% of grooms falling in this age group.

Brides were slightly younger on average with 43% aged between 20 and 24.  Last year, there were also 51 grooms aged 60 and over, while just six brides fell in this aged bracket.

During 2010, Malta’s population stood at 417,608, of which just over a half were females. The population increased by 0.8% over 2009, mainly due to a net migration of 2,200.

But despite annual increases over the previous two years, the number of births dropped by 3% in 2010. NSO attributes this drop to the decreases in the number of births in Malta by 5%. Births in Gozo advanced by 19%.

The statistics also show that deaths went down by 7%, from 3,221 in 2009 to 3,010 in 2010. The largest drop, 36%, was for persons aged between 25 and 34.  Those aged 75 and over made up 61% of the total, with females marking up just over the half.

Marking World Population Day, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said: “This year’s World Population Day falls during a milestone year, when we anticipate the birth the Earth’s seven billionth inhabitant.”

The world’s population went up from 1 billion in 1810 to nearly seven billion last year. Over the same period, Malta’s population increased from 93,000 to some 418,000 in 2010.

The total population estimates took into consideration births, deaths, adoptions of foreigners, immigration and emigration.