Marriages and divorces, 2002

The 10 500 divorces correspond to 11.9 divorces per 1 000 married and separated women. The divorce rates were 11.8 and 11.5 the previous two years.

Highest divorce rate in Oslo

In Oslo there were most divorces compared to the number of married and separated women, where average annual divorce rate was 16.9 for the years 1997-2002. Vestfold had the second highest divorce rate with 13.1, and Finnmark the third with 12.8. Sogn og Fjordane with 6.7, Møre og Romsdal with 8.3 and Nord-Trøndelag with 9.0 had the lowest divorce rates. The average for the whole country was 11.2.

More divorces in the age group 45-49

In the age group 45-49 the divorce rate per 1 000 married and separated increased from 16,2 to 18,2 for males and from 13,6 to 15,5 for females. There were only small changes in the other age groups.

One of four dissolved marriages by divorce in 2002 or affected by separation had been together from 5 to 9 years.

60 per cent had children together

40 per cent of the couples that divorced last year did not have children together, 24 per cent had one child, 26 per cent had two children and 10 per cent had three or more children.

36 per cent of those who separated in 2002 did not have children together, 23 per cent had one child, 29 per cent had two children and 12 per cent had three or more children.

The risk to get divorced increases

Looking at the divorce pattern for 2002 it is calculated that 48 percent of all marriages can expect to end in divorce. The calculation for 2001 was 47.8 percent. The percentage increased from 9.5 in 1960 to 47.4 in 1994. The period from 1995 to 1999 had lower percentage, but for the last three years the risk increased again.

Divorces in registered partnerships

44 partner couples registered partnerships (same sex couples) got divorced and 77 separated last year. Almost 45 per cent of those who separated and 65 per cent of those who divorced in 2002 lived in Oslo.

Tables:

• Table 1 Marriages dissolved. Separations. 1961-2002
• Table 2 Divorces and separations, by county. 1981-2002
• Table 3 Divorce rates for males and females in different age groups. 1959-2002
• Table 4 Divorces, by duration of marriage. 1971-2002
• Table 5 Divorces, by number of common children. 1971-2002
• Table 6 Number of children involved in divorces. 1971-2002
• Table 7 Divorces, by number of common children and duration of marriage. 2002
• Table 8 Estimated percentage of marriages dissolved, assuming the divorce rates of each single year. 1960-2002
• Table 9 Children under 18 years of age involved in divorces, by county. 2002
• Table 10 Separation rates for males and females in different age groups.1999-2002
• Table 11 Separations, by duration of marriage. 1999-2002
• Table 12 Separations, by number of common children. 1999-2002
• Table 13 Number of children involved in separations. 1999-2002
• Table 14 Divorces, by number of children and duration of marriage. 2002