Significantly fewer marriages are concluded in Germany. In 2023, 361,000 couples got married – that’s the second lowest number. Eastern Germany is much more affected by the decline. The birth rate is also going down.
The number of marriages in Germany fell to the second lowest level last year. As the Federal Statistical Office announced, the number of 361,000 weddings was only slightly higher than in the Corona year 2021. The decline was therefore greater in East Germany than in West Germany. In a year-on-year comparison, the number fell by 7.6 percent across Germany.
Only in 2021 was the number slightly lower at just under 358,000 marriages. At that time, Corona rules also significantly restricted weddings, as the statisticians explained. In East Germany the value fell by 9.0 percent to around 51,800 marriages, in West Germany by 7.4 percent to 297,700 weddings.
Of all marriages, the vast majority were between a man and a woman, while 9,200 people married a partner of the same sex.
Number of births at lowest level since 2013
The Federal Statistical Office also announced that last year fewer children were born in Germany than in a decade. The number fell by 6.2 percent to around 693,000 children in 2023. The last time the number fell below the 700,000 mark was in 2013. According to statisticians, the number of births in East Germany fell more sharply at 9.2 percent than in West Germany at 5.9 percent.
The majority of births were first children (46.5 percent), followed by second births (34.8 percent). In the long term, however, the proportion of first children fell between 2013 and 2023, while the proportion of third children and more increased. This rose last year to 18.7 percent, the highest level since 2009.
According to the statisticians, mothers with foreign nationality had an influence on this. At 26.4 percent, the proportion of third or subsequent children was significantly higher than among mothers with a German passport (15.8 percent). The year-on-year decline in births was somewhat weaker last year than the year before.