Number of married people in Italy plunges - ISTAT

(ANSA) - Rome, September 6 - ISTAT said Thursday that the number of people in wedlock in Italy has plunged over the last three decades. The statistics agency said that the percentage of men who are married in the 25-34 age group dropped from 51.5% in 1991 to 19.1% this year and the rate declined from 69.5% to 34.3% for women. In the 45-54 age bracket almost a quarter of men have never married, while almost 18% of women are unmarried.
    It said the number of divorced people increased fourfold in all age groups, going from around 376,000 in 1991 to over 1.671 million.
    The agency say same-sex civil unions constituted in Italy and those registered here after being celebrated abroad amounted to 13,300, 0.02% of the resident population.
    It said 68.3% of these couples were male.