The National Statistics Institute reported last week that the divorce rate in Spain in 2008 was the lowest for three years.This is possibly another side effect of the recession.Last year 110,036 divorces were finalised ,down by 12.5% on 2007 and the lowest total since 2005.

There was an even greater drop in the number of separations which at 8761 was almost a quarter fewer than in the previous year.Sociologists are saying that this is reflecting  what happened in the USA during the Great Depression in the 1930’s.Then the divorce rate dropped sharplyand the same effect is happening worldwide following the economic downturn in early 2008.

The Spanish situation is particularly interesting because in June 2005 the law regarding divorce in Spain changed so that couples did not have to be separated for a specific amount of time .Suddenly the divorce rate rocketed. It also removed the requirement for couples to cite a reason for the failure of their partnership.

In 2006,the first year after the changes in the law the number of divorces rose by 74.3% compared with the year before.Last year the average divorcee’s had been married for about 15 years and were in their forties.The highest rates last year were in Melilla  and the lowest were in Castilla La Mancha.