Half of the 441 couples who got divorced last year had been married for more than 20 years and a quarter of them for over a decade, according to the National Statistics Office.

Only 48 couples had been together for less than 10 years when they obtained a divorce, according to figures released to mark World Population Day.

Lawyer Cedric Mifsud cautioned that this did not mean that the number of years spent married impacted the chances of divorce.

“This is simply because these people, who divorced after so many years, were most likely separated for a long time but divorce was only made available to them now,” he explained.

In May Times of Malta had quoted figures supplied by the National Security Ministry, responsible for the public registry, showing that the Maltese courts had granted 817 divorces since divorce law came into force two years earlier.

These people were most likely separated for a long time but divorce was only made available now

Under Maltese law couples can obtain a divorce after four years of being legally separated or living apart.

The majority of divorce applications were filed by legally separated individuals. This meant that the courts did not have to decide on the separation of assets because this was already settled.

Lawyers had said that, given the high number of separations, they had expected more people to file for divorce in the first few years. To give some perspective, the 2005 census had found there were more than 11,000 separated and divorced individuals.

Divorce became law in October 2011 after Parliament approved a law originally submitted by former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando a year earlier.

Parliamentary approval came on the back of the May 2011 referendum that delivered a ‘yes’ vote for divorce. Some 53 per cent of the electorate gave divorce the thumbs up.

Malta had been the only country, apart from The Philippines, not to have divorce legislation even though divorces obtained abroad were recognised by the State.

Yesterday’s NSO figures showed that apart from the 441 divorces granted by Maltese courts, a further 69 were obtained abroad and recognised in Malta.

The NSO also said that, in 2012, 554 couples obtained a separation and 133 got their marriage annulled, with 44 annulments being religious and 89 civil.

There were 2,823 registered marriages, marking a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Of these 41 per cent were civil marriages that increased by over 20 per cent when compared to 2011, the NSO said.

Until December 31 last year the population stood at 421,230 people, with 95 per cent being Maltese nationals. People under 18 made up 18 per cent of the population while 17 per cent were over 65.

Last year 4,231 babies were born and most mothers were between the ages of 30 and 34. Some 1,073 births were outside marriage and 17 per cent of these mothers were teenagers, while 32 per cent were between 20 and 24 years old.

The number of deaths reached 3,418 with 64 per cent involving people over 75.

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