Germany registers significantly fewer divorces in 2017

In Germany, 153,500 marriages were divorced in a court ruling in 2017, 9,000 less than in 2016, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Tuesday.

Most divorced marriages in 2017, 82.6 percent of cases, were divorced after a one-year separation period. About 27,000 or 17.5 percent of all divorced couples were already married at least for 25 years.

On average, divorced couples had a 15-year marriage.

About half of the divorced couples had underage children. In total, some 124,000 minors were affected by their parents' divorce in 2017 in Germany.

About 51.5 percent of the divorce applications were filed by the wives. Women who divorced in 2017 were on average 43 years and 9 months old.