Religious weddings decline in Greece. Public Domain
Over the past 30 years, from 1994 to 2024, Greece has seen a dramatic decline in religious marriages. The decline was sharp: while religious ceremonies accounted for 89.6% of all marriages in 1994, this figure dropped to just 38.5% in 2024.
The lowest percentage recorded was 29.5% in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic spread in Greece.
The comparison of data between 1994 and 2024. Religious weddings are in pink, civic weddings in blue. Civil Partnership Agreements in green. Credit: Orthodoxia News Agency
Although the traditional marriage framework remains dominant, other forms of union are slowly but steadily increasing.
Data on marriages in Greece
Specifically, according to official data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT):
Marriages in 2024 totaled 36,649 (19,695 religious and 16,954 civil), a 9.2% decrease from 2023, when 40,351 marriages were performed (21,402 religious and 18,949 civil).
Civil Partnership Agreements (Sýmphona Symvíosis) in 2024 amounted to 14,486, a 3.9% decrease compared to the 15,069 registered in 2023.
The 2024 marriage data includes, for the first time in Greek history, following the adoption of the relevant bill (which faced opposition from the Church and a large part of society), 182 same-sex marriages.
Correspondingly, the Civil Partnership Agreements for the same year included 192 agreements between men and 96 between women.
These figures were published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority concerning the evolution of demographic indicators in Greece during 2024.
Civil marriages were introduced in Greece on July 18, 1982, with the enactment of Greek law number 1250/1982. The law established a dual system, meaning that both civil marriages (performed by a mayor or other civil official) and religious marriages are legally valid in Greece.
The same law also legalized all civil marriages performed abroad between a Greek citizen and a foreign national prior to the 1982 date.
Related: The History and Tradition of Arranged Marriages in Greece