What are our favourite wedding dates? What about partnership registrations?

For years now, Friday has been the most popular day to get wed. Monday is the most popular day for concluding a partnership. A relatively large number of weddings also take place on that day. Most municipalities offer the possibility of marrying or entering into a registered partnership on Mondays, either at a lower cost or free of charge.

On average, about a third of couples have married on a Friday in recent years and the months of May, June and September are the most popular. On special dates, such as Valentine’s Day, the day of the week seems less important. More couples also get married on appealing dates. For example, 750 tied the knot on Thursday 20-02-2020, more than 10 times as many as on a normal Thursday in February. Until 1983, December was still a popular month to get married. For tax purposes, people who got married in December were viewed as having been married that entire year. From 1984, living together, whether married or not, for six months or longer became decisive.

Most registered partnerships on Monday

With respect to registered partnerships, there is not as clear a preference for the spring and summer months as is the case with weddings. As far as the day of the week is concerned, Monday is the most popular: almost 40 percent of all registered partnerships are concluded on that day. The registered partnership was introduced in 1998. Over the years, the number of couples who opt for this has grown gradually, and since 2014 this increase has accelerated. The number of marriages, however, has remained more or less the same since 2013. In 2019, already a quarter of the relationships recorded in the civil registry were registered partnerships.

Show tableMarriages and partnerships (x 1,000)Hide tableMarriages and partnerships (x 1,000)

Marriages and partnerships (x 1,000)

Year	Marriages	Registered partnerships
1998	87.0	4.6
1999	89.4	3.3
2000	88.1	2.9
2001	82.1	3.4
2002	85.8	8.3
2003	80.4	10.1
2004	73.4	11.2
2005	72.3	11.3
2006	72.4	10.8
2007	72.5	10.6
2008	75.4	10.8
2009	73.5	9.5
2010	75.4	9.6
2011	71.6	9.9
2012	70.3	9.2
2013	64.5	9.4
2014	65.3	10.4
2015	64.3	12.8
2016	65.2	15.7
2017	64.4	17.9
2018	64.3	19.8
2019	63.6	21.9

Fewer weddings concluded during the lockdown

In the first two months of 2020, more marriages were contracted than in the same period a year earlier. In February, in particular, there were a number of appealing dates on which more people got married than on average. The number of partnerships concluded in these months was again higher than in the previous year. That changed with the coronavirus pandemic. During the lockdown, from mid-March through to May, on average almost half as many couples married each week than in the same period in 2019. Fewer people got married on Fridays and Saturdays in particular. Nevertheless, an average of over 500 couples said ‘I do’ each week. A relatively higher number of marriages were also concluded on appealing dates during the lockdown. On Monday 20 April, more than 300 couples married, almost 1.5 times more than on an average Monday in April.

During the lockdown, fewer registered partnerships were concluded than in the same period in 2019, but the decrease was smaller than for the number of marriages.

Number of weddings up again from June

After the gradual relaxation of the coronavirus measures, the number of marriages and partnerships concluded once again increased. From June onwards, more couples entered into a partnership than in the same months a year earlier. The number of weddings still lagged behind; in August by about 10 percent and in July and September by almost 20 percent. However, on the attractive dates of 20-7-2020 (Monday) and 20-8-2020 (Thursday) and 20-9-2020 (Sunday) more marriages again took place than on similar days a year earlier. However, Friday 20-6-2020 saw relatively few couples getting married. In June especially, the number of weddings on Fridays and Saturdays still lagged behind 2019.

Show tableMarriages per month (x 1,000)Hide tableMarriages per month (x 1,000)

Marriages per month (x 1,000)

Maand	2018	2019	2020*
Jan	2.757	2.768	2.865
Feb	2.700	2.793	3.806
Mar	3.098	3.216	3.031
Apr	4.454	4.420	2.684
May	6.924	7.612	2.978
Jun	9.014	8.384	4.441
Jul	6.608	6.752	5.371
Aug	9.120	7.213	6.500
Sep	8.686	9.008	7.292

The questions

1. How does CBS calculate the figures?
2. How do we use our land?
3. How fast is the population growing?
4. How are the various animal species doing?
5. What are our top concerns?
6. Where do the emigrants go?
7. Who use social media the most?
8. How isolated do we feel?
9. What are our favourite wedding dates? What about partnership registrations?
10. How many under-18s are receiving youth assistance?
11. What about cyber crime?
12. What are the most popular majors?
13. What are the major religions?
14. How many overnight stays?
15. How many people shop online? And the items they buy...
16. Who are eligible to vote?
17. What are young people doing online?
18. How many adults smoke or have smoked?
19. Where were people in the Caribbean Netherlands originally born?
20. Where do Caribbean Dutch children live?
21. How much internet usage in the Caribbean Netherlands?
22. How many people (never) work from home?
23. How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
24. Has our purchasing power gone up or down?
25. Which jobs have the highest levels of mental fatigue?
26. How many employees are members of a trade union?
27. How many passengers flying into and out of the Netherlands?
28. How much nitrogen is emitted at livestock farms?
29. How many dwellings in the Netherlands?
30. How much is our average mileage in electric cars?
31. What do we import from China?
32. Which prices are up, which are down?
33. What is our production of frozen fries?
34. How many enterprises in the Netherlands?
35. How much energy do we get from biomass?
36. How much do we recycle?
37. Which flower bulbs are most common?
38. What is the impact of coronavirus?