The number of marriages in Scotland rose by almost a thousand during 2010 compared with the previous year, the Registrar General for Scotland has announced.
New figures published by the General Register Office for Scotland show there were 28,480 marriages in 2010 – 956 more than in 2009. The number of divorces in Scotland fell by 478 to 9,893 during the same period.
Commenting on the fall in divorce cases, Registrar General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said: “This is not unexpected - the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, which came into effect on 4 May 2006, reduced separation periods for divorce, so there was an increase of over 2,000 divorces in 2006 followed by decreases in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The average of these five years is around 11,500 which is slightly higher than the levels recorded immediately before the change in legislation.”
