In Greece, the proportion of church marriages has more than halved in 30 years

Greece has seen a significant decline in the popularity of church marriages. According to official data, the share of weddings in the total number of registered unions has more than halved over the past 30 years, falling from nearly 90% to less than 40%. The trend reflects profound socio-cultural changes in the country and comes amid a public debate on family values.

ELSTAT reports, citing data from the Greek Statistics Authority, that while church weddings accounted for 89.6% of all marriages performed in 1994, by 2024 the figure had fallen to 38.5%. Thus, the overall reduction amounted to 57%. The statistical office notes that this trend is related to general changes in society and fuels the ongoing controversy in the country about the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The lowest rate was recorded in 2020, when the percentage of weddings amounted to only 29.5%. There was a partial recovery in the following years, but it was not possible to return to previous levels. At the end of 2024, 36,649 marriages were registered in Greece, of which 19,695 were church marriages and 16,954 were civil marriages. The total number of marriages decreased by 9.2% compared to 2023.

Recall, earlier we reported that on February 15, 2024, the Greek Parliament voted for the adoption of the bill on the legalization of same-sex marriage and the right to adopt children by LGBT couples. Thus Greece became the 37th country in the world and the first Orthodox state to legalize LGBT partnerships at the state level.