The average age of couples in Germany when they first marry continues to get older and is now at a record high, according to the latest figures released on Thursday.
The average German man is now 35.1 years old at a first marriage, while the average woman is now 32.6 years old, according to a report from the Federal Statistical Office, which was based on 2022 data.
Two decades ago, men were 3.3 years younger and women 3.8 years younger when they first said "I do" in Germany. The average age difference between men and women, meanwhile, has fallen from 3.0 years to 2.5 year during the same period.
According to the data, about 609,800 people married for the first time in 2022 in Germany.
Of those, 36% were younger than 30 years old. Two decades ago, that figured was 52%.
Meanwhile, in 2022, about 10% of all people getting married for the first time was between the ages of 40 and 49, up from less than 6% in 2002.
The difference increased even more significantly in the 50-plus age group: from just over 1% to almost 7%.
The shift can partly be attributed to the aging demographics of Germany as a whole. The proportion of people over the age of 50 has increased from just over 36% in 2002 to just under 45% in 2022.
In total, around 781,500 people decided to get married in 2022, 78% for the first time while about 20% were previously divorced and just over 1% were widowed.
Just under 3% of marriages in Germany in 2022 were between couples of the same sex.
At the end of 2022, around 34.6 million people in Germany were married or living in a registered civil partnership, which according to the agency accounts for about 49% of the total adult population.
The highest proportion was among 65 to 69-year-olds, at just over two thirds.
The average age of divorce in Germany also hit an all-time high in 2022, according to the report, and is now 47.8 years for men and 44.7 years for women. That is an increase of 6.2 years for men and 5.8 years for women compared to 2002.
On average, a marriage lasted 15.1 years until divorce in 2022, compared to 12.9 years in 2002.
With the exception of 2019, the number of divorces has fallen continuously since 2012, according to the agency.