What changed
2026-07-27 20:18 UTC → 2026-07-27 20:31 UTC ·
added
removed
Recent statistics Statistics from Italy and Greece continue to show a growing pattern of marital breakdowns among older or long‑term couples in Southern Europe. Italy reported reports that divorces involving partners aged 60 or older have almost nearly tripled over the past decade, with one in four one‑in‑four divorces now including individuals involving persons over 50. Experts link the surge to retirement‑related lifestyle changes, greater economic independence—especially for women—and evolving cultural views of marriage as a personal choice. In Greece, ELSTAT data reveal a rise in indicate increasing divorces among couples married for 10 – 24 10‑24 years and a notable increase in those married 25 years or more, indicating that long‑term unions are increasingly ending. While Greece also recorded signalling a modest early‑year rise in live births, the dominant demographic signal mirrors Italy’s: enduring marriages are dissolving at higher rates. The latest long‑term union dissolution. A July 2026 ELSTAT release for confirms the first quarter of 2026 shows that Greece’s modest birth increase persisted, with 15,946 rise in Greek live births—a births recorded for Q1 2026: 15,946 births, a 0.4 % rise increase over the same period in 2025. Infant deaths fell by 2025, alongside a 3 % to 96. drop in stillbirths. The report broke down births by gender split (8,184 boys, 7,762 girls), recorded a rise in January (+2.6 %) and March (+1.2 %) but a dip in February (‑2.9 %), girls) and noted the ratio of births to mothers with Greek citizenship versus foreign‑born mothers widening to 9.5 : 1. Regionally, the biggest month‑by‑month fluctuations mirror earlier reports, while regional gains were in Thessaly (+62 births), Thessaly, the Peloponnese (+56) and Central Macedonia (+31), while and declines were observed in Central Greece (‑81), Greece, Attica (‑32) and the Ionian Islands (‑31). Both countries attribute these trends persist. Analysts link both the divorce surge and the slight birth uptick to broader social shifts, including more shifts—greater free time for retirees, changing evolving personal identities, and new social opportunities that encourage reassessment of longstanding relationships. The parallel developments suggest increased economic independence, especially for women—reflecting a regional move toward greater individual autonomy in later life, reshaping family structures across the Mediterranean. life.