Portugal has for the first time more divorced people than widows
The National Institute of Statistics revealed this week more data on the 2021 Census and confirmation of a new family structure. We are less and we are more alone, with more separations and, for the first time, more divorced than widowed. Families are smaller and birth data indicate that we will be even less in the future. Women outnumber men, which is due to their greater longevity.
We are 10 344 802 inhabitants in Portugal (2.1% less than ten years ago) and we continue to have a mostly single population (43.4%), which even increased slightly. The married (41.1%) are losing ground to the divorced, the latter with 2% more than in 2011, totaling 8%. The proportion of widowers also decreased slightly (7.5%) and, for the first time, was surpassed by the divorced.
There are more single men than women and, on average, they marry later, at 34.9 years (they at 33.4). In widowhood, the trend is reversed – widows represent 11.7% of residents, while widows represent 3%.
Women live longer, have a life expectancy at birth of 83.67 years; in the case of men it is 78.07. Values that changed will change with pandemic victims but this discrepancy will remain. The male population (4 921 170) lost preponderance to the female (5 423 632).
“The masculinity ratio is 90.7 men per 100 women, reflecting a greater imbalance between the population volumes of both sexes, compared to 2011, when this ratio was 91.5 to 100”, the presentation reads. of provisional results of the 2021 Census. The reference date (census time) is April 19.
In the last ten years, more male babies have been born. They are mostly in the age groups from 0 to 24 years old, a prevalence that disappears in adulthood, especially in groups over 64 years old. They are more susceptible to accidents and illnesses.
The Censuses also indicate that the size of households, whose number increased in the last decade, was present. The greater longevity and fewer remarriages among females make them the central figures in households, whose size has been decreasing. They are mostly in single parent families.
smaller families
In 2021, the average size of private households is 2.5 people per household, with a third being composed of just two elements. The average in 2011 was 2.6 people. The autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira have larger families than on the Mainland, 2.8 and 2.6 people per household, respectively.
The households of one person (single person) represent 24.8%, having their number increased by 18.6% in the last decade. On the other hand, large families have lost weight in the country. Households with four people represent 14.7% of the families and those with five only 5.6%, whereas, in 2011, they meant 16.6% and 6.5%, respectively.
The Metropolitan Area of Lisbon has a greater representation of single-person households (28.2%), as indicated by the Autonomous Region of the Azores (20.3%).
There are more private households than institutional households (homes, for example), but these have increased by 13.3% (5476 in total) since 2011. The number of private households has decreased by 2.6%. It increased in all regions with the exception of Alentejo, where the value decreased by 3.7%.
There are more invalids to their home and main residence: 69.4% of the former are transferred to the first home, 1.3% more compared to 2011. Seventy percent are occupied by the owner, a percentage that decreased by 3.2% compared to 2011 and 5.7% compared to 2001. This is reflected in leases, which represent 22.3% of total households and have seen their importance reinforced by 2.4% in the last decade.
The 2021 Census, which corresponds to the XVI General Population Census, indicates the causes of the decrease in the size of the family structure, since there are fewer marriages and more divorces. Added to this is the low birth rate, as shown by the latest Vital Statistics. They indicate that the number of births in Portugal between January and October of this year was 65,596, 5965 fewer babies than in the same period of 2020, which had already registered 7207 fewer compared to the previous year. The accumulated natural balance (difference between deaths and births) was minus 37,596, a greater drop than in 2020 (minus 27,597) and in 2019 (minus 20,062).
Regarding weddings, there is an improvement in 2021, which has to do with ceremonies postponed during the first year of the pandemic. The country suffered total confinement and then major events had severe limitations on the number of sources. ANDn between january and october of this year, 25,257 marriages were celebrated, 9,079 more than in the same period of 2020. However, when the comparison is with the same ten months of 2019, there are 4434 fewer official unions.
The increase in the number of ceremonies coincided with the easing of restrictions due to covid-19, starting in March. And it continued to rise from month to month. “In September and October 2021, respectively, 4465 and 3276 weddings were celebrated, which corresponds to increases of 56.2% and 28.0% compared to the months of September and October 2020 (more than 1606 and 716 more weddings )