The average age of couples in Germany when they first marry continues to get older and is now at a record high, according to the latest figures released on Thursday.

The average German man is now 35.1 years old at a first marriage, while the average woman is now 32.6 years old, according to a report from the Federal Statistical Office, which was based on 2022 data.

Two decades ago, men were 3.3 years younger and women 3.8 years younger when they first said “I do” in Germany. The average age difference between men and women, meanwhile, has fallen from 3.0 years to 2.5 year during the same period.

According to the data, about 609,800 people married for the first time in 2022 in Germany.

Out of those, 36 per cent were younger than 30 years old. Two decades ago, that figure was 52 per cent.

Meanwhile, in 2022, about 10 per cent of all people getting married for the first time were between the ages of 40 and 49, up from less than 6 per cent in 2002.

The difference increased even more significantly in the 50-plus age group, from just over 1 per cent to almost seven per cent.

The shift can partly be attributed to the ageing demographics of Germany as a whole.

The proportion of people over the age of 50 has increased from just over 36 per cent in 2002 to just under 45 per cent in 2022.

In total, around 781,500 people decided to get married in 2022, 78 per cent for the first time, while about 20 per cent were previously divorced and just over 1 per cent were widowed.

Just under three per cent of marriages in Germany in 2022 were between couples of the same sex. 

(dpa/NAN)