Average age at marriage in the Netherlands 1950-2021, by gender

Between the 1950s and today, the average age to marry in the Netherlands increased significantly for both genders. Whereas in 1950, men were on average 30 years old when they married and women were nearly 27 years old, in 2021 this was 38.3 and 35.5 years respectively. This raise in the average age at marriage however meant a decrease in the number of marriages per person, which decreased by almost 0.20 in the last decade alone. The average Dutch person married between 0.48 and 0.47 times in 2021.

 Number of marriages 

  In 2021, roughly 56,000 marriages took place. The majority of these marriages were closed between a man and a woman, but since same-sex marriages were legalized in the Netherlands in 2001, each year also between 1,000 and 2,400 same-sex couples tie the knot. In the last decade, the number of marriages peaked in 2010, when almost 86,000 marriages took place.

Living happily ever after

  In 2021, nearly 60,000 couples celebrated 12.5 years of marital bliss, and a further 51.9 thousand couples had been married for 25 years. And of course, with time the number of special wedding anniversaries decreases, as divorce or death dissolves many a marriage. Still, that year 327 couples celebrated 70 years of wedded life together.