Syrian brides take first place among foreign brides in Turkey
ANKARA
The number of marriages and divorces decreased in 2016 from the previous year, while Syrian brides, unaffected by this, took first place with high numbers, compared to other foreign brides in Turkey, according to TÜİK.
The number of Syrian brides increased 82 percent compared to 2015, reaching 6,495 in 2016, while the number of foreign brides getting married increased 20 percent compared to the previous year and rose to 22,583.
The number of foreign men getting married rose to 3,777, which corresponds to 5.9 percent of the rise.
The number of foreign brides was 22,583 in 2016 and it constituted 3.8 percent of total brides. When analyzed by citizenship, the 6,495 Syrian brides that took first place constituted 28.8 percent of the share, followed by 2,644 German brides, constituting 11.7 percent of the total, and 2,170 Azerbaijani brides, with 9.6 percent of the share.
In 2016, the number of foreign grooms was recorded at 3,777, corresponding to 0.6 percent of all grooms in Turkey. When analyzed by citizenship, 1,338 German grooms, with 35.4 percent, took first place. The German men were followed by 377 Syrian grooms, with 10 percent, and 291 Austrian grooms, with 7.7 percent.
While the number of couples who got married was 602,982 in 2015, it decreased by 1.4 percent from the previous year, and it was 594,493 in 2016. Crude marriage rate was 7.5 per thousand in 2016. While the number of couples who got divorced was 131,830 in 2015, it decreased by 4.3 percent compared to the previous year, and it was 126,164 in 2016. The crude divorce rate was 1.59 per thousand in 2016.
The highest crude marriage rate was in the southeastern border province of Kilis with 10.19 per thousand in 2016. Kilis was followed by the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray with 8.78 per thousand, and the southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman with 8.74 per thousand.
The province having the lowest crude marriage rate was the Black Sea province of Gümüşhane with 5.07 per thousand. Gümüşhane was followed by the northern province of Bayburt with 5.51 per thousand and the eastern province of Tunceli with 5.59 per thousand.
Mean age at first marriage was 27.1 for males and 24 for females in 2016, making the average age difference at first marriage between them 3.1 years. The city having the highest age difference among couples at first marriage was the eastern province of Kars with 4.7 years, followed by the eastern province of Ağrı with 4.3 years, and the eastern provinces of Bitlis, Ardahan and Iğdır with 4.2 years.
The province having the lowest mean age difference at first marriage was the Black Sea province of Karabük with 2.4 years, followed by the southeastern province of Şırnak and the northern province of Kastamonu with 2.5 years.
The province with the highest crude divorce rate was the Aegean province of İzmir with 2.63 per thousand in 2016. It was followed by the Aegean province of Muğla with 2.55 per thousand and southern resort province of Antalya with 2.46 per thousand. The provinces experiencing the lowest crude divorce rates were the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Şırnak with 0.15 per thousand, followed by the eastern provinces of Siirt with 0.23 per thousand and Muş with 0.25 per thousand.
In 2016, 39.1 percent of the divorces occurred in the first five years of marriages and 21 percent of divorces occurred in six to ten-year long marriages.
Until 2002, information on marriage events were collected by TÜİK through local municipalities with municipal organizations and through heads of villages, which had no municipal organizations, while information on official divorces were collected through civil courts of general jurisdiction and family courts. Marriage and divorce data have been obtained from the Central Civil Registration System (MERNIS), which has analyzed, produced and published database statistics annually since 2003.