Between 1971 and 2011, several countries legalised divorce, the last one being Malta in 2011. The majority Catholic Philippines is the last officially secular country that does not have civil divorce for the whole population; Muslims, however, are granted divorce rights as per their religion.
The oldest regulations were created in Iceland, where divorce has been possible since the 16th century. In France divorce was introduced in 1791 and in Luxembourg in 1794. In most of Europe, divorce was made possible in the 19th century. In Ireland (1995), Italy (1970), Liechtenstein (1974), Portugal (1975), Spain (1981) and Scotland (1976), divorce has only been possible since relatively recently.
The number of marriages that took place in the EU27 in 2010 was 2.2 million, while around 1.0 million divorces were recorded in 2009. Marriages became less stable, as reflected by the increase in the crude divorce rate, which almost doubled from 1.0 divorce per 1,000 inhabitants in 1970 to 1.9 divorces by 2009.
The lowest crude divorce rates were recorded in Malta – where divorce has only been possible since 2011 – with 0.1 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants in 2011. Ireland (0.7 in 2011) and Italy (0.9 in 2010) were the only other EU Member States to record crude divorce rates below one divorce per 1,000 inhabitants. The highest crude divorce rates were recorded in Latvia and Belgium.
The proportion of live births outside marriage increased across the EU27 over the last two decades, reflecting a change in the pattern of traditional family formation. Some 38.3% of children were born outside marriage in 2010, while the corresponding figure for 1990 was 17.4%.
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