5.10 Marital status

Marital status means division of population into groups according to whether people are unmarried, married, divorced or widowed. Those who have never been married are unmarried. Other marital statuses are determined either on the basis of marriages contracted, divorces granted by courts or death of spouse.

Demography uses the following official classification of marital status: unmarried, married, divorced or widowed.

Cohabiting unions have become more common especially during the last few decades. Cohabiting unions are not formalised in the same way as marriages, but cohabitation is often equated with marriage in demography - similarly as in ordinary life. In many countries it is difficult to obtain information about the numbers of people living in cohabiting unions.

Before the change of the Marriage Act (411/1987), married spouses were granted a judicial separation. Separation was regarded as a kind of reconsideration period before the actual divorce. In population statistics divorces and separations were kept distinct until 1988, but in demography separations were often comparable with divorces.

After the amendment of the Marriage Act in 1 January 1988 spouses are given a reconsideration period of six months after which divorce is granted at once.