THE HAGUE, 10/10/06 - In 2005, there were 72,000 marriages, nearly 1,200 less than in 2004. The figure is the lowest since 1945, when the same number was recorded, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reported yesterday.

The drop can be attributed to three causes. The average age at which people first marry has steadily risen since the mid-1970s. "In 1976, the age of marriage for women was still below 23. By 2005, this had risen to nearly 30 - among other reasons, due to the popularity of unmarried living together," reported CBS. Additionally, the number of people of marriageable age has declined in recent years. A third important factor is the alternative of a registered partnership, which did not exist earlier.

Relatively few people married in 1945 due to the Second World War. In the years after liberation, numbers rose to a peak. From the beginning of the 1960s, the number of marriages rose steady, reaching 124,000 in 1970. The increase largely reflected the relatively large generation of post-war children reaching marriageable age. After 1970, the number of marriages dropped sharply, to 78,000 in 1983, before rising again to nearly 96,000 in 1990. Since 1999 (89,000), the numbers have fallen again.

The trend towards marrying at a later age is also apparent among the younger generations. Among women now aged between 50 and 65, about 95 percent are or have been married. Among women now aged 20 to 30, three-quarters think they will marry sometime. Among the 30 year old women, in 2006 half were married.