Serbian population shrinks by nearly 400,000 over ten years

Illustration

The Statistical Office of Serbia (RSZ) has announced that a 2.8 percent decrease in the number of marriages was recorded in 2016, compared to 2015.

The number went from 36,949 in 2015 to 35,921 in 2016.

The average age of brides and grooms was 31 and 34 respectively. The number of first marriages in Serbia decreased by four percent in relation to 2015 and was 29,048.

The average age at the time of first marriage was 31 for men and 28 for women.

Homogeneous marriages were the most frequent - i.e., marriages between grooms and brides of the same ethnicity (87 percent), the RSZ said on its website.

Most often (67 percent) both spouses had the same level of education, while in 46 percent of marriages both were "economically active."

In 2016, the number of divorces was 9,046 and showed a 3.6 percent decline compared to the year before....