To mark Valentine's Day, the Estonian Statistical Office posed the question, 'what is the portrait of couples in Estonia?' They sifted through data on the register and drew these conclusions.
Between 1970 - 1980 approximately 12,000 marriage ceremonies took place in Estonia each year. Since the 1990s the number of new marriages per year began to fall sharply with only 5000 - 6000 couples deciding to tie the knot.
As of 1st January 2017, there were nearly 250,000 married couples in Estonia. Many marriages end as a result of divorce or death or a partner. Currently, of the lasting marriages, 88% of married couples have lived together for at least five years. Slightly more than half of couples (52%) have celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. Although 50 years of cohabitation seems relatively rare, however, more than 15 000 couples have reached this milestone. In Estonia, the average marriage lasted nearly 25 years.
If we then look at names in Estonia, popular names of couples who have been together the longest (58 years on average) are: Aino & Evald (7 couples) and Helmi & Ülo (5 couples). Popular names of new couples, i.e. people who have been married for an average of 1-2 years are Anna & Nikita (6), Kairi & Martin (5), and Anton & Veronika (7).
In honour of Valentine's Day, it is interesting to note that there are 32 couples in Estonia with the names Valentin and Valentina, who have lived together for nearly 30 years on average.
To read the full ERR report (in Estonian), please click here: Eesti abielupaaride koondportree
