Marriages slightly rise, divorces surge in Türkiye last year

By Tuba Ongun

ANKARA (AA) – The number of marriages in Türkiye saw a slight increase in 2024, while divorces rose sharply compared to the previous year, according to a TurkStat report on marital trends.

More couples tied the knot last year, with 568,395 marriages recorded — a modest rise from 567,011 in 2023. This brought the crude marriage rate — the number of marriages per thousand people — to 6.65 per thousand.

However, divorces surged to 187,343 last year, increasing from 173,342 in 2023. The crude divorce rate climbed to 2.19 per thousand, reflecting growing challenges in marital relationships.

Some 33.7% of divorces occurred in the first five years of marriage and 21.3% of divorces occurred in marriages with the duration of 6-10 years in 2024, the report said.

The increase in divorces also affected 186,536 children in 2024. In custody rulings, 74.4% of children were placed under their mother’s care, while 25.6% were placed with their fathers.

The average age at first marriage continued to rise. In 2024, men married at an average age of 28.3, while women married at 25.8, maintaining a 2.5-year gap.

Türkiye also saw 5,923 foreign grooms and 29,115 foreign brides in 2024. Syrian grooms led the foreign category (20.6%), followed by Germans (19.5%) and Afghans (5.7%).

Among foreign brides, Syrians and Uzbeks each accounted for 12.1%, followed by Moroccans (8.3%) and Azerbaijanis (7.5%).