The number of divorces in Brazil reached 351,153 in 2011, with increase of 45.6% over 2010 (243,224). As a result, the divorce rate reached its highest level since 1984 (2.6 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants aged 15 and over), even more than in the previous year (1.8‰). These data are presented by Civil Registry Statistics 2011. The publication also shows the increase of shared custody of minor children (5.4%), at a rate twice as that of 2011 (2.7%), although the prevalence of women as legal guardians still remains (87.6%). Shared custody was more commonly seen in Pará (8.9%) and in the Federal District (8.3%) and recorded its lowest percentages in Sergipe (2.4%) and Rio de Janeiro (2.8%).

The survey also found changes in the distribution of births by age of the mother. Whereas in 2001 mother aged 30 to 34 made up 14.73%, the equivalent figure in 2011 was 17.63%.  In the group aged 25 to 29, births changed from 23.32% to 25.27% in ten years. Among mothers aged 20 to 24, the percentage fell from 30.74% to 27.53%. In the Federal District, births of mothers aged 30 to 34 had the second biggest relative participation (21.76%), pointing to an older age pattern in motherhood. Federal District (11.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (11.2%) and São Paulo (10.8%) were the states with the biggest percentages of births of mothers between 35 and 39 years of age.

Untimely registration, that is, births which are not registered in the child’s year of birth, fell from 28.2% to 6.7% in ten years. This situation was more often observed in Maranhão (from 69.0% in 2001 to 16.0% in 2011) and in Amazonas (from 60.4% to 26.2%).

Civil Registry Statistics also presents information about the registration of deaths, marriages and legal separations.  The complete publication can be accessed at https://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/populacao/registrocivil/2011/default.shtm.

In 2011, there were 351,153 divorce legal actions or deeds, with increase of 45.6% in the total number of divorces in the country, compared with 2010. As a result, the divorce rate reached its highest level since 1984 (2.6‰). The Federal District recorded the highest figure (4.8‰), followed by Rondônia (4.7‰). The lowest indexes were recorded in Maranhão (1.1‰), Amapá and in Tocantins (botth with 1.5‰).

The second semester of 2010 marked the extinction of a minimum period of separation before the granting of divorce, causing the rate to reach 1.8‰. Year 2011 was, throughout the period, the first one to witness the enforcement of this new regulation, and that had some impact on the dissolution of marriages. Consequently, the number of proceedings or deeds for legal separations fell from 67,623 to 7,774 in 2011. 

The divorce rate was higher in groups aged 30 to 54, considering women, among those aged 30 to 34 (7.3‰) and, considering men, among those aged 35 and 39 and 45 to 49 (7.9‰, in both groups).

Considering judicial divorces granted without appeal and divorce deeds made in notary public offices, for all ages, the dissolutions which took place in 2011 were more common among marriages which had lasted between 5 and 9 years (20.8%), followed by those which had lasted between 1 and 4 years (19.0%). There was reduction of three years in the average period of time which separates the wedding day and the granting of divorce, with decrease from 18 years, in 2006, to 15 years, in 2011. This reduction was observed in all the Federation Units, especially in Acre, where the average number of years fell from 21 to 12. In 2011, the longest periods of time were found in Piauí and in Maranhão, 18 years, in both cases. 

The average ages at the time of divorce also fell in 2011, both among men and women, in comparison with 2006 figures. In 2011, the average age of men at the time of divorce was 42.  In 2006, the equivalent age was 43.  There was also a one-year decrease among women, and the current age at divorce is 39.

The evaluation of divorce results by type of family shows increase of the proportion of dissolutions among childless couples, with a change from 26.8%, in 2001, to 37.2%, in 2011. The choice of administrative divorce, according to law 11,441 of January 2007, led to a faster dissolution of marriages without minor children, and that contributed to the overall increase of divorce cases. 

Among couples whose children were above the age of legal majority, there was an inversion in relation to data of 2001-2206. In this case, there was change from 22.0%, in 2006, to 19.7%, in 2011. There was also significant decrease of relative participation of divorces of couples with minor children when years 2001 (51.5%), 2006 (38.8%) and 2011 (37.1%) are compared.

Shared custody doubles in 10 years

It was observed there still prevalence of women as guardians of minor children, a situation seen in 87.6% of dissolutions in 2011. Nevertheless, cases of shared custody between partners (5.4%) more than doubled when compared to those in 2001 (2.7%).  There was also decrease of the percentage of divorces in which men are chosen as guardian of the children, with a change from 5.7%, in 2001 to 5.3% in 2011 (in 2006, the figure was 6.1%).  

Women’s prevalence as guardians of minor children was a fact in all the states, reaching the highest level of occurrence in Bahia (94.4%) and the lowest, in Roraima (74.3%). Shared custody was most frequent in Pará (8.9%) and in the Federal District (8.3%). Sergipe recorded the lowest percentage (2.4%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (2.8%).  Men’s custody of minor children changed from 2.2% in Sergipe to 10.6% in Amazonas.

Births: 

Untimely registrations drop from 28.2% to 6.7% in 10 years 

In 2011, the total registers of births by place of residence of the mother grew 2.2% compared with 2010, which occurred in all major regions. Untimely registers (those not created in the year of birth) have been decreasing, but are still numerous in the states of Northeast, North and Central West Regions.

In 2011, 202.6 thousand registers were considered untimely, a percentage which fell from 7.1% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2011. In 2001 this percentage was 28.2%. In ten years, the sharpest falls occurred in Maranhão (69.0% in 2001 to 16.0% in 2011) and Amazonas (60.4% to 26.2% in the same period).

21.76% of the mothers who gave birth in 2011 were between 30 and 34 years of age

The survey also shows changes in the reproductive behavior of women. Whereas in 2001 the mothers who were between 30 to 34 years accounted for 14.73%, in 2011 this percentage was 17.63%. In the group aged 25 to 29, the number of mothers increased from 23.32% to 25.57% in ten years. Among mothers 20 to 24 years of age, the percentage dropped from 30.74% to 27.53%. There was a significant difference between the states as to the registers of births by age group of the mother. In the Federal District, the age with the biggest relative share in the total births was that of mothers between 25 and 29 (25.43%). The same occurred in São Paulo (25.82%), Santa Catarina (26.05%) and Rio Grande do Sul (25.23%). In the capital, births of mothers aged 30 to 34 had the second biggest relative share (21.76%), indicating an older age pattern at the time of motherhood. Federal District (11.5), Rio Grande do Sul (11.2%) and São Paulo (10.8%) were the states that had the biggest percentages of birth registers of mothers aged between 35 and 39.

In opposition to this profile, Maranhão, Pará, Tocantins and Alagoas, together, accounted for the biggest proportions of births of mothers under 15 years of age, 15 to 19 and 20 to 24, respectively, 57.7%, 57.4%, 53.7% and 53.7%. In these Federation Units, the age patterns of motherhood were the youngest, with significant participation of the group aged 15 to 19.  

27.4% hospital births did not occurr in the mother’s municipality of residence

Almost all births (97.8%) occurred in hospitals, although differences remain among the states. Acre (88.6%) and Amazonas (88.8%) recorded proportions below 90.0% and also had the biggest percentages of home births, respectively, 7.8% and 6.8%.Among home births, 26.1% had postponed registers. Amazonas (47.9%), Pará (38.2%) and Ace (35.6%) had the major percentage.

For the whole country, 27.4% of hospital births took place in a different municipality apart from the mother’s residence, which shows traveling in search of hospital care at birth time.This situation is more common for mothers living in small towns, especially those with up to 20 thousand inhabitants.

Among the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, the biggest percentages of hospital births out of the mother’s municipality residence occurred in Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE), Nova Iguaçu (RJ) and Contagem (MG), respectively, 70.8%, 64.9% and 60.4%.These municipalities are located close to the capitals of their respective states.

Deaths: 51.8% of infant deaths are of children under 6 days

The percentage of the death under-registration in Brazil fell from 16.3% in 2001 to 6.2% in 2011. The problem is most serious in the North and Northeast Regions (26.0% for both in 2011), which also show improvements in coverage (previously, 30.0% and 38.7%, in 2001, respectively). In the Southeast and South Regions, coverage is considered effective, and in the Central-West, the under-registration of deaths is 3.9%. The omission of death registration is mostly attributable to infant deaths (of children under one year of age). Maranhão (44.3%) and Roraima (40.1%) had, in 2011, the highest proportions of under-registration.

Among infant deaths, post-neonatal cases (deaths of children from 28 to 364 days) prevailed in Brazil until the end of the 1980’s (51.9%). Since then, the early neonatal cases (deaths of children aged 0 to 6 days) and late cases (deaths of children aged 7 to 27 days) began to predominate, reaching in 2011, 68.3% of all infant deaths.

The percentage of post-neonatal deaths are still significant, even in the most developed areas. In 2011, 51.8% of registered infant deaths were early neonatal.

Men make up almost 80% of deaths in the group aged 15 to 29

In 2011, the higher mortality of men remained a fact in most age groups, especially between 15 and 29 years, a group in which men represented 79.0% of deaths. There are growing difference between male and female deaths up to the age group 20 to 24. Then these changes fall gradually until they are inverted, until female deaths after 80 years of age. The highest percentages of male deaths in the groups aged 15 to 29 result, mainly, from deaths caused by violence or accidents, which are the third main factor in the population overall and the first one among youngster aged 15 to 24. In 2011, there were 111.5 registered violent deaths in the year by place of residence of the deceased, which means increase of 1.3% in relation to 2010.

Marriages: Marriage rate of women between 25 and 29 years of age changes from 21.3% to 29.1% in ten years

In 2011, there were 1,026,736 marriages, 5.0% more than in the previous year. Out of this total, 1,025,615 were of partners 15 years and over. That caused the marriage rate to rise when compared to that of 2010 (6.6 ‰), reaching almost 7.0 weddings for one thousand inhabitants aged 15 years and over. The highest rates occurred in Rondônia (10.0%), Federal District (9.0‰), Espírito Santo (8.6‰) and Goiás (8.6‰). The lowest ones were in Amapá (3.9‰) and Rio Grande do Sul (4.7‰).

In 2011, the highest marriage rate among women remained in the group aged 20 to 24 years (30.8‰), a figure close to those of 2006 (30.5‰) and 2001 (29.2‰). In the group aged 15 to 19, the rate in 2011 (16.1‰) was lower than in 2001 (16.8‰). However, among those between 25 and 29 years of age, the rate rose from 21.3‰ to 29.1‰ in the period, the increase of women’s average age at marriage. Marriage rates of women are higher than those of men in two age groups, only: 15 to 19 (16.1‰ against 3.6‰) and 20 to 24  (30.8‰ against 25.1‰).

Marriage rates of men were highest in the group aged 25 to 29 (32.2‰), a slightly lower figure than in 2006 (32.4‰). From 60 years of age on, rates among men (4.6‰ in the group 60 to 65 and 3.5‰ in the aged group 65 and over) were more than twice as those of women (1.8‰ in group 60 to 64 and 0.8‰ in the group 65 and over). Due to the higher mortality of elderly males, oldest ages are characterized by a bigger female population, and that eventually reduces marriage chances for elderly women. For all groups over 30 years of age, marriage rates for men were higher in 2011 than in 2001. Men get together with a partner at a later age than women and keep the highest marriage rates.

Marriages in which the male partner is older are the majority. However, the comparison of years 2001 and 2011 shows percent increase of marriages with an older woman, by 20.3% and 23.7%, respectively. This scenario is present in all Federation Units considering the period of ten years.

Marriages between single partners remain as the majority (79.7%), but the trend has been facing decrease (it was 87.7% in 2001). On the other hand, there has been growing proportion of remarriages (20.3%). In 2001, remarriages totaled 12.3% and in 2006, 14.6%. Percentages were higher for marriages between divorced men and single women (8.7%), when compared to the opposite case, of divorced women who are formally united to single men (4.9%). Among the states, Rondônia (75.2%) and Rio de Janeiro (75.5%) had the lowest proportion of marriages among single persons. The highest percentage was found in Piauí (92.4%). Marriages between divorced persons reached their highest proportion in São Paulo (5.2%). Formal unions between divorced women and single men were more often seen in Mato Grosso do Sul (6.8%) and São Paulo (6.4%).