Marriages ending ever earlier

Divorce comes now after an average of eleven years

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New data on marriage and divorce in Finland show that half of marriages end in divorce, while those that do are shorter than ever before.
      At the turn of the millennium, a marriage that eventually broke up had lasted for 12 years before the partners went their separate ways, while in 2005 the duration of such a marriage was only 11 years.
     
The number of divorces is also growing slowly in Finland.
      "While one-third of marriages ended in divorce in the 1960s, the corresponding number in the 1970s was already more than 40 per cent", reports Anneli Miettinen from the Family Federation.
      "Unfortunately, the risk is growing year by year. Both the legislation and social standards are favourable to the current trend, which is likely to continue", Miettinen notes.
     
However, Finns apparently still value marriage as an institution, and only one in five families with children involve parents who are not married to each other.
      Also the growing number of weddings tells of the same story.
     
Many aim at a perfect family and relationship, while fewer than ever are persistent enough to deal with hardship together. The greatest risk of separation is after five years of marriage, when many families have small children.
      Because of children, Doctor of Pedagogics Tuula Pukkala would advise people to consider for a long time whether or not a divorce would be a good solution after all.
      "One must understand that a relationship also goes downhill sometimes", Pukkala adds.
      Pukkala stresses further that married couples should listen to each other’s needs and develop their communication skills, as a relationship between two adults is not automatically permanent and everlasting.
     
University lecturer Marika Jalovaara from the University of Helsinki’s Department of Sociology lists a number of risk factors that can lead to a divorce, for example being resident in the Greater Helsinki area, unemployment of either of the spouses, a poor financial situation, and living in a rental home. The existence of children normally prevents or at least postpones a divorce.
      The duration of a marriage can also be linked to a couple’s age. Likely risks leading to a divorce include the woman’s even slightly higher age, or the man’s clearly higher age than the spouse’s, or even the wife earning a better salary than her husband.
     
The study also indicates that people are getting married later and later in life.
      The average age for me is now approaching 30, and for women 28 years.
      In many cases the couple could have a child or several children by this point. Four children out of ten are born to couples who are not married, mostly to those living as common-law couples.


Links:
  The Family Federation

Helsingin Sanomat