Marriage separation proceedings kickstarted last year outnumbered the number of weddings at the altar, information given in parliament shows.

And the number of civil weddings also continued to gain in popularity over church weddings.

There were 1,423 civil weddings last year compared to 1,129 Church weddings, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Labour MP Byron Camilleri.

No breakdown was given on the number of weddings involving foreign couples. 

Labour MP Etienne Grech then asked Justice Minister Owen Bonnici on the average number of marriage separations registered every day last year.

In his reply, the minister said there were 290 notes of amicable separation, 907 letters of mediation in contentious separations and 114 applications for separation cases. This, the minister said, gave a total of 1,311 separations, which meant that the average number of marriage separation cases started every day last year in Malta was 3.6. 

In Gozo, proceedings were started for 47 marriage separation cases during last year, or four every month.

The number of civil weddings has been exceeding the number of church weddings since at least 2016.

And while some of the increase in civil weddings can be explained by the number of foreigners choosing to marry in Malta, the number of church weddings has been in decline.