Figures show fewer people getting married in Scotland

The number of people getting married in Scotland continued to fall last year, new figures show.

Fewer marriages are taking place in Scotland.

There were 27,525 marriages in the country in 2018, 3% down on the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of civil partnerships has decreased significantly since same-sex marriage was introduced in December 2014.

Last year, 65 civil partnerships were registered in Scotland, five fewer than in 2017 and down from around 500 annually before same-sex marriage was introduced.

Of the marriages in Scotland last year, 979 were same-sex couples, and 9% of them were couples who changed their existing civil partnership to a marriage.

Almost half (49%) of marriages in Scotland were civil ceremonies while nearly a quarter (23%) were humanist ceremonies.

The Church of Scotland conducted one in 10 marriages while 4% were conducted by the Roman Catholic Church and the rest by other religions.

The average age at which people first get married has increased by more than 10 years since the mid-1970s, from 24.3 to 34.3 for men and from 22.4 to 32.6 for women.