Same-sex Marriage in Brazil Increased by Over 60 Percent in 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The 2018 Civil Registry Statistics survey shows that same-sex marriage increased by 61.7 percent last year compared to 2017. In 2018, 9,520 same-sex partnerships were registered, compared to 5,887 in 2017. The data were released yesterday, December 4th, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

According to the study, the number of unions between women grew 64.2 percent, from 3,387 in 2017 to 5,562 in 2018. Marriages between men rose from 2,500 to 3,958, which represents an increase of 58.3 percent.

The survey also shows that the increase was mainly driven by the month of December: same-sex unions totaled 3,098. In December 2017, only 614 marriages between people of the same sex were registered.

In terms of marriage between women, 549 unions were registered in November and 1,906 in December of last year. Records of marriages between male spouses increased from 408 in November to 1,192 in December 2018.

In the previous survey, comparing the years 2016 and 2017, there was a ten percent increase in the number of same-sex marriages.

Since 2013, Resolution 175, of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), requires registry offices to perform civil marriage ceremonies between same-sex couples. For the research manager, Klivia Brayner de Oliveira, the population is increasingly aware of this rule.

“People who are aware of this [CNJ resolution], are seizing the opportunity and making it official [the civil unions], particularly the women who like to make the relationship official. Among women, you see that this is becoming more popular. With more access to information, people are deciding that way,” the analyst said.

In unions between singles of different genders, men got married at the age of 30 on average, and women at the age of 28. In LGBTI unions, however, the average age of marriage was 34 for men and 32 for women.

The total number of civil marriages was 1,053,467 in 2018, a reduction of 1.6 percent from the previous year.

Divorce

The survey also shows that there was a 3.2 percent increase in the number of divorces in 2018, compared to the previous year: there were 385,246 divorces last year, compared to 373,216 in 2017.

The divorce rate went from 2.5 for every thousand people aged 20 and over in the country in 2017 to 2.6. The Southeast Region showed the highest percentage, with 3.1 divorces for every thousand people aged 20 and over.

The average time between marriage and divorce was 14 years. In 2008, this average time was 17 years.

According to the IBGE, there was an increase in the percentage of divorces between couples with minor children “where the sentence includes shared custody “. This phenomenon can be observed after the sanction of Law 13.058, of 2014, in which shared custody became a priority.

“In 2014, the proportion of shared custody between spouses with minor children was 7.5 percent. In 2016, this modality began to represent 16.9 percent of the judicial divorces granted; in 2017, the percentage increased to 20.9 percent; and, in 2018, to 24.4 percent,” says the IBGE.

The Civil Registry Statistics gather information on live births, marriages, deaths, and stillbirths, reported by the Civil Registry offices of natural persons, as well as on the divorces declared by Family Courts, Forums, Civil Courts and Notary Publics.

Source: Agência Brasil