Malta Sees Drastic Increase in Civil Marriages

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Malta Sees Drastic Increase in Civil Marriages

Statistics gathered over a 13-year period by the National Statistics Office show a steady increase in the number of Maltese couples opting for a civil marriage within recent years, going from a minimal 509 out of 2,545 couples who married in 2000 to almost half of the marriages to take place in 2013.

Here at OurWedding, we embrace all weddings and celebrations of love – whether you choose to walk down the aisle in a grand church, or whether you say your ‘I Dos’ barefoot on the beach among your nearest and dearest. Interestingly though, more and more Maltese couples seem to be going down the civil marriage route than ever before.

While the number of couples getting married in Malta and Gozo every year has remained relatively constant, never veering far from the 2,500 mark each year between 2000 and 2013, the number of couples choosing to tie the knot civilly rather than getting married in church has increased dramatically.

In a change that is indicative of a culture in flux, in which traditions are no longer necessarily upheld without question, the number of couples choosing a civil marriage has increased from 509 out of 2,545 in 2000, to 1,199 out of 2,578 marriages in 2013. While statistics are not yet available for 2014 and 2015, these numbers are a strong indication of a growing trend among today’s couples.

For a predominantly Catholic country like Malta, it is difficult to tell whether these findings correlate with people’s changing beliefs or whether it is a choice governed by other factors, but one thing is certain – times are changing, and today’s young couples are more likely than ever before to do things their own way.