The total number of marriages occurred and registered in 2009 decreased 2.3%, in relation to 2008 in the population aged 15 or over, causing a decrease of 0.2 point in the nuptiality rate (marriages per a thousand inhabitants in this age group), the first decrease since 2002. Acre presented the highest nuptiality rate (11.2‰, almost twice as much as the national rate of 6.5‰), and also the highest percentage of direct divorces (98.3%). Women have been getting married later and later, and the percentage of marriages in which women are older than men has been gradually increasing (from 19.3% in 1999 to 23.0% in 2009). Marriages in which one of the spouses is divorced or widowed changed from 10.6% in 1999 to 17.6% in 2009). Separations remained stable between 2008 and 2009, while divorce rates decreased slightly (from 1.5‰ to 1.4‰), although they are still higher than in 1999. Between 1999 and 2009, the percentage of divorces of childless couples increased (from 25.6% to 37.9% of the total divorces) as well as the divorce of couples with grown-up children (from 12.0% to 24.4%), whereas the percentage of divorces of couples with underage children decreased from 43.1% to 31.4%, after the institution of the divorce by administrative means in 2007. Although mothers are usually awarded custody (87.6% in 2009), joint custody divorces increased from 2.7% in 2004 to 4.7% in 2009. Under-registration of births (births estimated for the reference year and not registered up to the first quarter of the following year) is still decreasing (from 20.7% in 1999 to 8.2% in 2009). Regional differences, however, are still high: while late registries (births registered in years later than the reference year) were few in São Paulo (1.6%), Paraná (2.2%) and Santa Catarina (2.2%), they reach significant percentages in Amazonas (34.1%), Pará (30.8%) and Roraima (26.8%). The states of the North region also stood out due to the percentage of births occurred in households, especially in Acre (10.8%) and Amazonas (10.7%), whereas 97.7% of births in Brazil occurred in hospitals and, among them, 26.1% occurred outside the municipality of residence of the mother. From 2004 to 2009, the number of births increased among mothers aged 25 or over, and decreased in the younger age groups. Concerning youth deaths, especially men, the highest percentage refers to violent causes (67.9% for men aged between 15 and 24). In the Northeast and South regions, the percentage of violent deaths increased for both sexes, as opposed to the rest of the country. These and other information are available at Civil Registry Statistics, which reflect the total registries of birth, deaths, marriages, separations and divorces made by family , justice and civil courts.

Decreased under-registration of births reflects improvements in access to services

Estimates of under-registration of births in Brazil changed from 20.7% in 1999 to 8.2% in 2009, with a small increase in 2001 (when it reached 23.0%) and decrease since then up to the current level. In comparison to 2008, the downward movement was 0.7 percentage point. The reduction reflects improvement in access to registration services, due to the amendment, in 1997, of a law granting free master copy birth and death certificates, besides campaigns and other government initiatives to stimulate registration.

26.1% of births occurred outside the mother’s municipality of residence

Like what happened with under-registration, late registration of births also decreased, from 295.6 thousand in 2008 to 265.5 thousand in 2009. However, profound differences among states were still observed. São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina had the smallest proportions of late registries (respectively 1.6%, 2.2% and 2.2%), while the highest percentages were observed in Amazonas (34.1%), Pará (30.8%) and Roraima (26.8%).

Following the trend of previous years, in 2009, 97.7% of deliveries occurred in hospitals. The largest proportions of home births, by state, were recorded in Acre (10.8%), Amazonas (10.7%), Pará (6.2%) and Roraima (6.1%). There is a relationship between home births and late registries: in 2009, whereas only 1.3% of the total registered births occurred at home, this percentage increased to 32.0% in late registries.

Among hospital births occurred and registered in 2009, 26.1% took place outside the mother’s municipality of residence. Capital cities and the Federal District had the lowest percentages of births registered in other municipalities; among cities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, the highest percentages of hospital births outside the mother’s municipality of residence were observed in Contagem (MG), with 73.3%, Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE), with 69.1%, and Aparecida de Goiânia (GO), with 57.9%, all municipalities bordering their respective state capitals.

The proportion of children of mothers aged 25 or over increases

In 2009, the proportion of registrations of births to mothers whose age ranged between 15 and 19 was 18.2% of national total, indicating reduction since 1999, when the percentage was 20.8%. The 20-24 age group still concentrates the largest proportion of birth registrations; however decrease was also recorded, from 30.8% in 1999 to 28.3% in 2009. The over-25 age groups presented relative increase in the 10-year period, with higher growth in the 30-34 age group, of 2.4 percentage points (from 14.4% to 16.8%).

The group of mothers aged 25-29 years was first in Rio Grande do Sul (25.2%), São Paulo (26.3%), Santa Catarina (26.5%), and the Federal District (27.2%). In the same federation units, the percentage of mothers aged 30-34 years was also higher than that of teenage mothers. On the other hand, the largest proportions of birth in the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups were recorded in Maranhão (23.9% and 35.5%) and Pará (24.3% and 33.7%, respectively).

Deaths are less registered in the North and Northeast, mainly those of the age group of up to 1 year

The under-registration of deaths also decreased in the whole country in the last 10 years, reaching 9.5% nationwide in 2009, against 17.8% in 1999. The North and Northeast regions, which in 1999 had indexes above 30% (30.7% and 37.7%, respectively), presented improvement in 2009, but are still much higher than national average (23.8% and 24.9%). Among states, the highest percentages of death under-registration in 2009 were found in Maranhão (53.2%), Roraima (43.0%), Alagoas (33.3%), Piauí (32.6%) and Amapá (29.8%).

The major problem related to death under-registration is posed in the age group of up to 1 year. In 2009 the omission was still very high in the country as a whole (43.0%), reflecting the highest under-registration indexes in the Northeast and North regions (68.0% and 45.2%, respectively). The highest percentages in the country were found in Maranhão (84.2%), Piauí (80.7%), Alagoas (79.3%) and Rio Grande do Norte (75.7%).

Violence is still the major death cause among young men

After having grown over years, since the 1980’s (especially among young and adult men), the percentage of violent deaths (due to homicide, suicide, accident, etc.) has displayed a slight tendency towards decline. In 1990, the proportion of male violent deaths in Brazil was 14.2% of total deaths; it increased to 16.2% in 2002, and in 2009 had returned to 14.9%, with the highest level in the Central West region (18.3%) and highlights being the states of Mato Grosso (23.8%), Espírito Santo (21.3%), Alagoas (21.1%) and Pará (20.1%).

Among women, the proportion remained practically stable during the period, with figures lightly above 4%, also with a downward trend; only in regions North (5.40%) and Central West (5.11%) this percentage remained above 5%, with highlights being Mato Grosso (7.48%), Amapá (6.36%), Maranhão (6.35%) and Tocantins (6.31%). Excess male mortality by violent causes is observed in the whole country (3.9 men per each woman), with highlights being regions Northeast (4.6) and South (4.2) and the states of Rio de Janeiro (5.5), Bahia (5.3), Alagoas (5.3), Paraíba (5.3) and Pernambuco (5.2).

Numbers indicate that violence affects principally the male young population. In 1999, in the 15-24 age group, 69.5% of male deaths were related to violent causes. This figure increased to 69.3% in 2004 and decreased again, reaching 67.9% in 2009. An opposite trend was verified in regions Northeast (58.7% in 1999 to 62.7% in 2009) and South (66.5% in 1999 to 70.9% in 2009); the Southeast, even in decline, still presented the greatest percentages in that age group, from 76.7% in 1999 to 73.7% in 2009. Among women, in the same period, the national percentage of violent deaths was practically stable at around 33% of total deaths, with a slight decline nationwide and the same opposite trend towards increase in the Northeast (from 26.6% to 29.7%) and in the South (from 35.9% to 38.6%).

Nuptiality rate in Acre was almost twice as big as the national rate

In 2009, 935.1 thousand marriages were registered in Brazil, among which 914.8 thousand were of people aged 15 years or over. They occurred and were registered in the reference year of the survey, what indicated a 2.3% reduction in relation to 2008 in this age group. The decreased number of marriages interrupts the growth sequence observed since 2002. Because it is a sole point, the 2009 variation may be interpreted as a tendency towards stability. The legal nuptiality rate of the country in 2009 was 6.5‰, being higher in Acre (11.2‰) and Espírito Santo (8.7‰) and lower in Rio Grande do Sul (4.4‰), Piauí and Sergipe (4.6‰).

Couples in which the woman is older than the man are becoming more common

The nuptiality rate for women aged 15 to 19 years, in 2009 (15‰), was lower than that observed in 1999 (23.1‰). Rates of all groups aged 25 or over are continuously increasing, reflecting the increased average age of women at marriage. In 2009, the highest rate among women remained in the 20-24 age group (28.4‰), very lower than that obtained in the same group in 1999 (33.9‰).

Another gradual change in the pattern of formal marriages is the increased percentage of single women older than single men at the wedding date. Marriages in which men are older than women are still more common, but comparing 1999, 2004 and 2009 we may observe increased percentages of couples with older women, respectively 19.3%, 21.3% and 23.0%. The greatest amount of marriages in which the woman is older than the man occurred, in 2009, among women aged between 25 and 29 years (33.9%).

Men get married later. Rates of legal nuptiality for women are higher than those for men just in two younger age groups (15-19 and 20-24 years) and 60 or over; rates measured for males are more than twice as high as those for females. In 2009, single men who married single women were on average 29 years old, and women, 26 years old, two years older than in 1999, for both.

Men had a higher nuptiality rate in the group whose ages ranged from 25 to 29 years (30.9‰), a figure lower than that observed in 1999 (32‰). For all groups aged 30 or over, nuptiality rates for men were higher in 2009 than in 1999.

Rio de Janeiro has the largest proportion of marriages among divorced people

Rio de Janeiro was the state with the smallest proportion of marriages among single people (77.2%), and Amapá, the state with the largest proportion (92.1%). Marriages between single spouses remained the most frequent type (82.4%), however the number of marriages in which at least one of the spouses was divorced or widowed increased from 10.6% in 1999 to 17.6% of total marriages in 2009. Marriages in which both spouses were divorced (2.9% of national total) presented the largest proportion in Rio de Janeiro (4.0%).

Marriages between divorced men and single women were 7.2%; those of divorced women formally married to single men, 5.3%. Formal marriages between divorced women and single men were more frequent in Goiás, Rio de Janeiro and Mato Grosso do Sul, between 5.6% and 5.8% of total. The opposite formation, divorced men and single women, was more frequent than the previous one in all federation units, with the highest percentages being observed in the Federal District (9.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (9.2%).

Separations continue stable and divorces have a slight decrease

In 2009, 177.6 thousand legal proceedings or divorce public deeds were registered, among which 139.8 thousand were granted not on appeal. Separations amounted 100 thousand proceedings or deeds, being 94,2 thousand granted not on appeal or at register offices in which spouses were 20 years old or over.

Whereas the separation rate (separations by thousand inhabitants, aged 20 years old) was stable in relation to 2008 (0.8‰), the divorce rate (divorces by thousand inhabitant, aged 20 years old) decreased from 1.5‰ to 1.4‰. Yet, analyzing the series kept by IBGE since 1984, we may observe the level of divorce general rate is higher in the initial years of the time series. There was a significant increase in 1989, after the law alteration, in 1988, which reduced minimum terms to initiate proceedings. From then on, there was also reduction and subsequent stability of separation rates.

Proportion of divorces among childless couples and couples with grown-up children increases

Concerning the types of divorce, in 2009, direct divorces were 76.6% of the total granted in the country. In Amazonas (97%) and Acre (98.3%) almost all divorces were the direct type (due to de facto separation during more than two years). The largest proportions of divorces were observed among those under partial community property marriage regime (78.9%). Marriages under separate property regime present a divorce percentage much lower than the others, but which increased considerably between 2004 (1.9%) and 2009 (4%).

Comparing 1999 and 2009, there was growth of dissolutions among childless couples, from 25.6% to 37.9%, and among those who had only grown-up children, from 12.0% to 24.4%. Divorces of couples who had minor children decreased from 43.1% to 31.4%. The divorce by administrative means, instituted in 2007, made dissolution of marriages quicker when no minor child was involved. That reversed the trends observed in 2009.

There percentage of divorces in which both spouses share child custody increased from 2004 (2.7%) to 2009 (4.7%), but women still gain minor children custody more frequently (87.6% in 2009).