Divorces in Brazil dropped 13.6% in 2020 compared to 2019, equivalent to 52,101 fewer divorces. In all, 331,185 divorces were granted, of which 249,874 (75.4%) were judicial and 81,311 (24.6%) were extrajudicial and were registered in a notary’s office. In 2019, 383,286 divorces were recorded.
The data are from the Civil Registry Statistics – Divorces 2020 survey, released today (18) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
According to the manager of the IBGE Civil Registry Survey, Klívia Brayner de Oliveira, this drop in divorces was affected by social isolation as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The closing of the courts to serve the public and the delay in granting divorces are the institute’s hypotheses for the underreporting of divorces.
“The pandemic had a very big impact on our divorce data collection”, said the researcher, since in 88.1% of the courts, information collection is done through printed questionnaires in which an IBGE employee has to go to the office in person. unity.
The average age of spouses at the time of divorce was 40 years for women and 43 years for men. The average length of marriage was around 13 years.
The average period of marriage was less than ten years in 49.8% of the divorces. In 24.2%, the marriages lasted between ten and 19 years. In 26.1% of the divorces, the duration was 20 years or more.
Regarding the property regime, 89.9% of the marriages had partial communion. Still in 2020, 56.5% of divorces were from couples with minor children.
In 2014, in 85% of divorces, the woman was responsible for the custody of minor children and in 7.5%, custody was shared. This scenario began to change with the entry into force of Law 13,058/2014, which established shared custody as a priority. In 2020, in 57.3% of divorces, custody was the responsibility of women and in 31.3%, shared.
