The Civil Register Statistics released today by IBGE show that, in 2006, 889,828 marriages were officiated in Brazil, that is, a figure 6.5% above that in 2005 (835,846). The increase of the number of marriages registered¹ follows a trend observed since 2002, and results, partially, from the legalization of consensual unions. Among women, the highest legal nuptiality rate² occurred in the group aged 20 – 24 years (30.0%). Among men, the highest rate was observed among those aged 25 – 29 years (35.8%). The rates for women surpass male results only in the two youngest age groups (15 – 19 years and 20 – 24 years). In the remaining ones, the rates for men are systematically higher. The data in the civil register statistics also allow the calculation of the average age of men and women at the occasion of marriage.  In 2006, it was observed that, for men, the average age in the first marriage was 28.3 years, and for women, 25.4. In the calculation which considers all the marriages, the average ages of men and women increased to 30.6 years and 27.2 years, respectively. Contrary to what is expected, May is second to December in terms of number of marriages, and this result can be seen as a consequence of the increase of  salaries due to thirteenth salary benefits received by workers.

The number of births registered in 2006 was 2,799,128 million all over the country, that is, about 75 thousand less than in 2005 (2.874.753 million). There was slight decrease of the percentage of teenage women (from 20.07% to 20.5%), except in the North Region, where the rate increased from 24.8%, in 2005, to 25.4%, in 2006.

Considering infant deaths, 50.8% occurred in the early neonatal period (less than six days of life), 15.9% in the late neonatal period (from seven to twenty-one days of life), and 33.3% in the post neonatal period (from 28 to 364 days). The Northeast Region concentrated most cases (30.3%), followed by the North (21.6%). These and other data detailed below are presented in Civil Register Statistics 2006, which is based on information about persons born in Brazil, obtained from register offices all over the country.

Elderly men marry more often than women in the same age group

Among persons 60 years of age or over, the difference of legal nuptiality rate by sex is significant: 3.4‰ for men and 0.9‰ for women. The highest rates for men were observed among residents of Acre, Amapá and Alagoas with, respectively, 9.4‰, 6.0‰ and 5.9‰. For women aged 60 or over, the highest nuptiality rates occurred in Acre (2.7‰), Tocantins (1.8‰) and Maranhão (1.8‰), as shown in Table 12.

Rio de Janeiro has the lowest proportion of marriages between single persons

Despite the predominance of marriages between single persons all over the country, the survey showed a tendency to decline of this type of union.

In 1996, 90.9% of the marriages officiated were among single persons, and, in 2006, this figure fell to 82.5%. Also in 2006, Rio de Janeiro (79.5%) had the lowest proportion of marriages between single persons. Amazonas and Piauí had the highest percentages, both with 94.9%. On the other hand, statistics show there is a growing proportion of marriages between divorced and single persons. The highest percentages were observed between divorced men who married single women, which changed from 4.2%, in 1996, to 6.5% in 2006. There was also increase of marriages between two divorced persons, from 0.9%, in 1996, to 2.2%, in 2006.

Divorces increased by 7.7% from 2005 to 2006

In 2006, the number of judicial separations granted was 1.4% higher than in 2005, totaling 101,820. In this period, the analysis by metropolitan area shows a different distribution with the same trend to increase: North (14%), Northeast (5.1%), South (2.6%) and Central West (9.9%). Only in the South was there decrease, by 1.3%.

Divorces granted increased by 7.7% in relation to the previous year, changing from 150,714 to 162,244 all over the country. The behavior of divorces evidence a trend to increase in all the Regions, being 16.6% in the North, 5.3% in the Northeast, 6.5% in the Southeast, 10.4% in the South and 9.3% in the Central West. In 2006, there were different results for the rates of judicial separations and divorces^{3 4} among the population 20 years of age or over.

Whereas judicial separations remained stable in relation to 2005, with rates of 0.9%, divorces increased by 1.4%. This result reveals gradual change of behavior of the Brazilian society, since divorce has been gradually more accepted. Figures also evidence changes in the legal procedure which make the divorce process faster: nowadays filing for divorce requires at least a year of judicial separation or two years of separation.

The survey showed that, from 1996 to 2006, judicial separation has remained at the same level of occurrence and that divorce has reached the highest rate in the last tem years. In 2006, direct divorces made up 70.1% of the total granted in the country, and indirect divorces, 29.9%. The North and Northeast Regions, with 86.4% and 87.4% had the highest rates of direct divorces.

The information of the Civil Register survey relative to the age of couples in judicial separations and in divorces shows that the average ages were higher in cases of divorce.  The average ages of men were 38.6, in judicial separations and 39.8 years, in divorces. The average ages of women were, respectively, 35.2 and 39.8. The analysis of marriage dissolutions by divorce, according to the type of family, showed that, in 2006, the proportion of couples who had only children under 18 years of age was 38.8%, followed by those without children, 31.1%.

Survey shows decline of birth registrations in 2006

Fewer than 2,799,128 million births were registered all over the country, about 75 thousand less than in the previous year (2,874,753 million), that is, decrease of 2.6%. In the Northeast Region there has been increase of the number of registrations (254.5 thousand), 417 more than in 2005 (254.1 thousand), with the following results: Amapá (11.4%), Roraima (8.2%), Pará (1.4%) and Tocantins (0.3%).

In absolute figures, 1999 had the biggest number of births registered, because, in this year, a national campaign served as significant incentive to the increase of civil registrations.

Pará and Maranhão have the highest percentages of teenage mothers

From 2005 to 2006, there was decrease of the percentage in almost all the Regions of the country, except in the North (from 24.8% to 25.4%) and in the South, which maintained its figure of 19%. Maranhão (27.6%), Pará (26.8%) and Tocantins (26.6%) were the states which concentrated the highest percentages of births by teenage mothers.

Over 90% of the births registered in the year took place in hospitals

Considering the place of birth, 96.7% of the birth registrations in 2006 occurred in hospitals, except in Acre, Amazonas, Pará and Maranhão, with percentages of births in hospitals below 90%.

In relation to late registrations, there was significant increase of the home births, a change from 1.7% in the number of births which occurred and were registered in 2006 to 20.0% among the registrations postponed. In Acre, 42.1% of the late registrations referred to home births, in Amazonas, 41.2%. Compared to births which occurred at ignored places (not identified), São Paulo was a highlight among the others, with 13.9% of the late registrations. 

Difficulty of access to register offices results in cases of underreport

From 2000 to 2006, the percentage of birth underreport fell from 21.9% to 12.7%. The North and Northeast Regions had the highest fertility rates in the country, leading the ranking of Major Regions. Roraima (42.8%), Piauí (33.7%) and Alagoas (31.6%) had the highest indexes. The lowest number of cases occurred in Santa Catarina (-0.6%), Paraná (-0.1%), Federal District (0.4%) and São Paulo (0.4%), and in the first two ones, the coverage surpassed all birth estimates.

Several factors contributed to underreport, for example, difficulty of access to register offices due to its distant location, geographical characteristics of the place (uneven relief patterns, watery areas), lack of inspection intended to check the observation to the law, inexistence of a network of child protection in most municipalities and the absence of register offices in 422 municipalities.

There were about 11% of late registrations in 2006

Births not-reported to register offices within the period considered by the survey are included in the Civil Register statistics of following years and classified as late registrations. In 2006, about 357,156 registrations belonged to this category (11.3%). Among them, 306,532 (85.8%) were of children up to 12 years of age. In the same year, 58.8% of the late registrations were relative to births which had occurred up to three years before the survey reference year. Other 60,624 registrations of births, by area of residence of the mother, were of persons 13 years of age or over. São Paulo (2.1%), Santa Catarina and Paraná were the states with the lowest proportions of late registrations, with, respectively, 2.1%, 3.0% and 3.2%. The highest percentages were those of Amazonas (36.4%), Pará (34.8%) and Amapá (33.0%).

Infant mortality is highest among babies with less than six years of life

Considering infant deaths registered in the country in 2006, 50.8% happened in the early neonatal period (less than six days of life), 15.9% in the late neonatal period (7 to 27 days) and 33.3% in the post-neonatal period (28 to 364 days). In the three phases together, the Northeast (30.3%) and North Regions (21.6%) concentrated most registers, followed by the Southeast (15.3%), South (15.2%) and Central West Regions (16.6%). The high values reached by Northwestern states may have been underestimated due to the high occurrence of underreport of infant deaths in the region and to the exclusion of deaths of infants inadvertently declared as born dead, but who, in fact, died after birth. The highest incidence of early neonatal deaths occurred in the North (52.2%); the Northeast had more deaths in the post neonatal period (35.2%) and the South, cases of late neonatal deaths (17.5%). In Roraima there were more cases of neonatal deaths (59.1%) in the post-neonatal period, as well as Acre in relation to mortality in the post neonatal (46.%) and Amapá, in the late neonatal period (19.9%).

In 2006, 15% of the male deaths registered were caused by violent deaths

The IBGE survey also shows the growing trend of violent deaths since 1980, although there has been slight decline in the last 4 years. In Brazil, in the period 1990 – 2002, the proportion of male deaths related to violent causes changed from 14.2% to 16.2%, but this figure fell to 15.2% in 2006. The states of the North Region present the highest proportions of male deaths by violent causes⁵ such as, for example, Rondônia (31.9%), Amapá (22.0%), Roraima (19.4%) and Pará (19.2%). Besides these, the states of the Central West and Southeast (Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and Northeast (Pernambuco, Alagoas, Rio G. do Norte, Sergipe and Paraíba) registered figures above 15%.

Among women, the proportion of deaths by violent causes remained practically stable throughout the period 1990 – 2002, with figures slightly above 4%. However, in the North Region was observed trend to increase of female deaths by violent causes, mainly after 2004, with changed from 5.3% to 6.3% in 2006.

Another aspect which must be highlighted is the difference in figures of death by violent causes when they are classified by type. According to statistics, the male/female mortality ratio by violent deaths is 3.8% higher than the female/male ratio. In the Southeast and in the Northeast, this ratio increases to 4 times, being slightly below the national average in the South and Central West regions. Among the states, Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro present the highest ratio of male/female mortality by violent causes 5.8 and 5.7, respectively).

All over the country, in 1990, about 60% of male deaths which occurred in the group aged 15 – 24 years were related to violent causes. This figure increased in all that decade and until the beginning of the current one, having reached 70.2% in 2002, and declined to 67.9%, in 2006. Despite the falling trend observed since 2002, mortality rates due to violence are still very high, especially among men.

Also in the group aged 15 – 24 years, in 2006, the highest incidence of violent deaths is that of in Rio de Janeiro, where mortality among male youngsters aged 15 – 24 years has reached 216 deaths for each 100 thousand inhabitants, with slight decrease in relation to the figure obtained in 2005 (229,6). In following positions are the states of Espírito Santo, which is stable compared to the previous year (203.8), Pernambuco, where these deaths are on a growing trend (203.6 versus 189,5, in 2005), Paraná, where figures are also stable compared to the previous year (162.3) and Mato Grosso do Sul (152.6 versus 161, in 2005).

___________________________________________________

¹ Marriage data provided by the Civil Register Survey represent, statistically, the characteristics of legal official unions in the country, which occurred at a certain year, for several geographical levels. The data for this investigation are obtained from Natural Persons Register Offices and result, therefore, from legal acts. Consensual Unions are not covered by this study.

² The legal nuptiality rate results from the division of the number of marriages by the number of inhabitants and the multiplication of the result obtained  by one thousand. In this work were considered marriages among the population aged 15 years or over. The population by sex and age used in the calculation of legal nuptiality rates were obtained for Brazil and for its Federative Units by the AiBi method, considering population prospects for the period 1980-2050 - Revision 2004. Populations for both sexes and for men were calculated. The female population was obtained by difference.

³ The overall judicial separation rate results from the division of the number of judicial separations granted by the population and the multiplication of the result obtained  by one thousand. The same procedure was used for the calculation of the overall divorce rate. In this work were considered separations amongthe population aged 20 years or over.

⁴ The populations by age used in the calculation of judicial separation and divorce rates were obtained from the total for Brazil and its Federative Units by the AiBi method, considering population prospects for the period 1980-2050 - Revision 2004. Populations for both sexes and for men were calculated. The female population was obtained by difference.

⁵ Violent deaths are those related to homicides, suicides car accidents, etc.