Following a peak in 2022 due to pandemic-induced social restrictions, the number of weddings celebrated in Belgium almost returned to pre-2020 levels last year.
Belgium witnessed 46,564 marriages in 2023, a 4% decline from the previous year, according to national statistical office Statbel. Before the COVID era, the annual average stood between 44,000 and 45,000.
There was also a slight decrease - 3.6% - in declarations of legal cohabitation, which totalled 36,990.
Cohabitation terminations remained virtually stable, declining by a nominal 0.4%. Over half of these terminations resulted in marriages rather than separations. The average duration of cohabitations before termination increased to 5.9 years.
For both declarations of legal cohabitation and marriages, partners are taking increasingly longer to make legal commitments, according to the Statbel data. The average ages were 31.9 and 30.1 years for new legal cohabitants, and 35.5 and 33.2 years for newlyweds.
Statbel’s 2023 statistics indicate that approximately 40% of couples will likely divorce after 14.7 years, while 60% of marriages will most likely end in widowhood, after an average of 52.2 years of conjugal life in the case of first marriages.
Finally, 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the legalisation of same-sex marriages in Belgium. This was also a moment for Statbel to highlight the moderate but continued rise, over the past decade, in these unions, which accounted for 3% of Belgian marriages last year.
