Study: Family and married life in Romania. Perceptions and representations in 2022

If last year, in the month of love, Reveal Marketing Research conducted a study that analyzed the impact of Valentine’s Day and Dragobete promotion campaigns on the Romanian public, as well as what type of approach is more appreciated, this year, the company developed a study to find out the Romanians’ perception of marriage in 2022.

According to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, 81343 marriages were registered in 2020, the lowest number of marriages recorded since 1946 to date. Compared to 2019, in 2020 there were 47,267 fewer marriages.

Marriage Aspirations: When?

An expression of the major changes that marked the Romanian society is the evolution of the age for marriage. Contrary to the reality portrayed by the statistical data, the ideal age for marriage, in the perception of Romanians, is mainly between 26-28 years – 26 years representing the ideal age for women, and 28 years representing the ideal age for men.

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The data also suggest that almost half of the subjects – 47% – have a better opinion on marriage versus cohabitation. At the same time, when asked about starting their own familiy in the near future, 1 in 5 unmarried respondents do not intend to get married or have a relationship for life. The percentages are 12% for men and 25% for women – especially for single and divorced people.

By age group, 70% of the young people aged 24 to 35 are most likely to get married in the near future, followed by young people aged 18 to 24 (69%)

Contrary to this percentage, 34% of subjects do not want to get married, but they want to have a relationship with only one partner for life.

The study also highlights a variety of subjects’ views on why young people today do not want to get married. According tot hem, the reasons are as follows:

• Lack of money or material goods – 55%
• Fear of failure or not making the right choice – 44%
• Pressure of professional plans – 39%

Validity of a marriage. Ideals and responsibilities. 

55% of respondents consider that a marriage is valid only if it has been officially recognized – in documents, and 51% consider that it is valid only if it has had the blessing of a priest.

In fact, only 37% of respondents believe that in a marriage the man should be older than the woman, with the percentage decreasing with the increase of the respondents’ age – so that 56% of young people aged 18-24 agree with this statement, and only 28% of people aged 45-55.

The same trend can be observed in the case of respondents who consider that the person who needs to care more for the home and raising children is the woman. 30% of people over the age of 55 agree with this statement, and the percentage increases proportionally up to young people aged 18-24, who agree with this statement in a proportion of 55%, for a total of 36 percent .