Between 1971 and 2011, several countries legalized divorce, the last one being Malta in 2011. The majority Catholic Philippines is the last officially secular country that does not have civil divorce for the whole population; Muslims, however, are granted divorce rights as per their religion.
The oldest regulations were created in Iceland, where divorce has been possible since the 16th century. In France divorce was introduced in 1791 and in Luxembourg in 1794. In most of Europe, divorce was made possible in the 19th century. In Ireland (1995), Italy (1970), Liechtenstein (1974), Portugal (1975), Spain (1981) and Scotland (1976), divorce has only been possible since relatively recently.
The number of marriages that took place in the EU27 in 2010 was 2.2 million, while around 1.0 million divorces were recorded in 2009. Marriages became less stable, as reflected by the increase in the crude divorce rate, which almost doubled from 1.0 divorce per 1,000 inhabitants in 1970 to 1.9 divorces by 2009.
See more at www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/index/divorces-per-100-marriages
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