In 2011, 204,830 marriages took place in Italy (3.4 per 1,000 inhabitants), 12,870 fewer than in 2010. Marriage has been decreasing since 1972, but the fall has been particularly marked during the past four years, with over 45,000 fewer weddings. This corresponds to -4.5% per annum between 2007 and 2011, a much higher value that the average of -1.2% recorded over the past 20 years.
This phenomenon has affected practically all of Italy’s regions. From 2008-2011 the largest fall was seen in Sardinia (-7.7%), in Campania and Le Marche (-6.9%) and in Abruzzo (-6.6%).
First weddings for couples who are both Italian citizens have fallen most sharply, with 155,395 ceremonies in 2011, approximately 37,000 fewer than four years previously; this difference accounts for 82% of the total fall in marriages between 2008 and 2011.
Another 17% of the overall decrease is due to marriages in which one of the couple is a foreign citizen. In 2011, 26,617 weddings took place in which at least one person was foreign (equivalent to 13% of the total), almost 8,000 fewer than in 2007, despite a slight recovery over the final year.
In particular, mixed marriages in which one partner is Italian and the other is foreign totalled 18,000 in 2011 (5,555 fewer than in 2007).
