A total of 638,311 couples got married in Turkey last year, a recent report from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) has revealed. According to the report, the number of couples who tied the knot in 2006 was 636,121.
The average age for marriage among males was 26.1 last year while this figure as 22.8 for females. The report showed that people residing in Ýstanbul get married the latest, with the average age among males being 26.9 and among females being 23.7. People living in central Anatolia and the Western Black Sea region, on the other hand, get married the earliest, with the average age among men being 25 and among women, 21.5.
The report also revealed that a total of 94,219 people got divorced last year, slightly up from 93,489 in 2006. The divorce rate was highest in the Aegean region, followed by the Marmara region and western Anatolia. According to the report, 41 percent of couples that get divorced do so in the first five years of marriage, while just 22.5 percent get divorced after 16 years of marriage. The completion of at least one year of marriage is required in Turkey before couples may divorce. This requirement gained prominence in 2006, when the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals annulled two court decisions related to the divorce cases of couples that had been married for only a few months. The chamber argued that even if couples agree to separate amicably, they need to stay married for at least one year before they are eligible for divorce.
Resource: Today”s Zaman
