Swedes in mad dash to walk down the aisle
This weekend marks the busiest two days in the calendar for wedding officials as couples up and down the country tie the knot.
Despite the gloomy divorce statistics in Sweden there is no lack of couples still evidently in love with the idea of a nice wedding and the Whitsun holiday marks the busiest weekend of the year for ceremonies.
The latest figures from the national statistics bureau show that thousands of Swedes have been married at least three times, while one man and one woman have managed to tie the knot ten times each.
While officials at Skansen hope for up to 500 couples to take part in the annual drop-in wedding in Stockholm today, a clear pattern emerges that after three marriages, men tend to be less enthusiastic about getting hitched again.
After the third wedding nearly twice as many Swedish women go on to say their vows more and more often.
A primary reason seems to be financial.
“If you are married you are in an entirely different legal position and you will not be left penniless if you get divorced,” Kjell Hansson, family therapist and professor at the School of Social Work in Lund told DN.
He also points out that the life expectancy in Sweden has increased, which makes it possible to have multiple marriages without being particularly promiscuous.
“Just because you have been married several times does not necessarily mean you have had many short relationships. You can quite easily have three long relationships before you turn 80,” he adds.
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Despite the gloomy divorce statistics in Sweden there is no lack of couples still evidently in love with the idea of a nice wedding and the Whitsun holiday marks the busiest weekend of the year for ceremonies.
The latest figures from the national statistics bureau show that thousands of Swedes have been married at least three times, while one man and one woman have managed to tie the knot ten times each.
While officials at Skansen hope for up to 500 couples to take part in the annual drop-in wedding in Stockholm today, a clear pattern emerges that after three marriages, men tend to be less enthusiastic about getting hitched again.
After the third wedding nearly twice as many Swedish women go on to say their vows more and more often.
A primary reason seems to be financial.
“If you are married you are in an entirely different legal position and you will not be left penniless if you get divorced,” Kjell Hansson, family therapist and professor at the School of Social Work in Lund told DN.
He also points out that the life expectancy in Sweden has increased, which makes it possible to have multiple marriages without being particularly promiscuous.
“Just because you have been married several times does not necessarily mean you have had many short relationships. You can quite easily have three long relationships before you turn 80,” he adds.
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