MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More divorces than marriages in Chile

Number of babies born to unmarried couples has also increased

For the first time since divorce was legalized in Chile five years ago, couples are getting divorced faster than they are getting married. In 2008, 39,000 couples were granted divorces and 20,000 were married. 2009 saw a similar trend, with 63,021 couples granted divorce, or 9% more than the number of couples married, according to a report in La Tercera.

Numerous factors could explain the higher divorce rate, such as a more educated society and the fact that women have more independence today than they have had in the past. There has also been a change in the way society views marriage.

Currently, only Uruguay has a divorce rate similar to Chile’s, but the divorce phenomenon is increasing all over Latin America.

A demographics expert from the University of the Republic of Uruguay, Wanda Cabella, has spent many years studying the social transformations of the region.

“Divorce has increased, the number of weddings has begun to decrease, civil unions and the amount of babies born to unmarried couples increased,” she said. “Individuals are now waiting until they’re older to begin life as a pair, while simultaneously realizing their own aspirations, which highlights individual autonomy, and transforms central family relations”.

According to her analysis, it is likely that the region is undergoing a second important demographic transformation. The first demographic transformation, according to Cabella, occurred after World War II, when the predominance of extended families disappeared and nuclear families consolidated.
 

By Alanna Nunez – Santiago Times