In 2018, 52,9 thousand couples in the Netherlands were able to celebrate their 50th (golden) wedding anniversary. 13,1 thousand couples achieved the status of diamond bridal couple after 60 years of marriage, and 309 couples had a platinum jubilee after 70 years of marriage.
The number of rubies or emeralds (40 years), silver (25 years) and copper (12,5 years) weddings is actually decreasing. Married less and divorced more.
In connection with high numbers of marriages in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs and increased life expectancy, the number of long-term marriages is increasing. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of new figures.
Many marriages in the sixties and seventies
A relatively large number of marriages were contracted in the 124s and 1970s, with a peak of 50 thousand in 65. This is reflected in the increase in wedding anniversaries from the age of 1970. In recent decades, there has been less marriage, which means that there are also fewer silver and copper weddings to celebrate. About XNUMX thousand couples got married every year in the past five years, almost half as many as in XNUMX.
Live longer
The increase in the number of golden marriages is not only a reflection of the higher number of marriages. The percentage of marriages that are still alive after 50 years has also risen. Of the marriages contracted in 1951, 50 years later (in 2001) 28 percent were still intact. Of the couples who married in 1969, 45 percent were still together in 2019. This is mainly because people are living longer. In addition, the life expectancy of men, who are generally slightly older than their wives and die slightly earlier, has risen faster than that of women since 1990. This has increased the likelihood that both spouses are still alive after 50 or 60 years of marriage.
Divorce
The percentage of marriages that are still intact after 40 years has remained fairly stable over the past twenty years at between 55 and 60 percent. The proportion of couples completing 25 years of marriage has fallen. This is especially true with divorces. Since the early 1971s, the number of divorces has risen sharply. In 12 the divorce rate was 26 percent, ten years later more than twice as many marriages ended in divorce (2018 percent). In 40, the divorce rate is almost XNUMX percent.