By Athena Karsera
THE BAD news for newly weds is that the number of divorces is on the rise in Cyprus, while leap year superstitions, make figures on the marriage rate unreliable for spinning out broader trends.
A demographic report for 1997 released yesterday by the Department of Statistics and Research showed that about 16 per cent of marriages in Cyprus ended in divorce.
Although this figure is relatively low compared to European figures, where half of all marriages end in divorce, it represents a sharp rise on earlier figures for Cyprus.
The proportion of marriages expected to end in divorce in 1997 was 164 out of every 1,000; in 1980, the figure had stood at just 42 per 1,000 marriages.
Statistics on marriages meanwhile were affected by superstitions against marrying in a leap year.
In 1997, which succeeded a leap year, the number of marriages rose to 7,187, while the crude marriage rate was calculated at 11 per thousand population.
A continuing rise in the age of first marriage was also noted. The mean age for men increased from 25.7 in the period 1974 to 1977, reaching 27.9 in the period from 1994 to 1997.
The figures for women rose from 22.9 to 25.4 over the same periods.
The population in the free areas was estimated at 657,900 at the end of 1997. This displays an increase of 0.9 per cent over the previous year. The report also estimated that 68.9 per cent of the population now lives in urban areas.
The birth rate in the free areas has fallen by about 0.7 per cent. In 1997, there were 9,275 births, while in 1996 there had been 9,638.
Similarly, the total fertility rate, which gives the number of children per woman and is not affected by changes in the age composition of the population, fell to 2 in 1997 from 2.08 in 1996.
Mortality rates meanwhile continued to fall, with the report showing that the 1997 crude death rate was estimated at 7.9 deaths per thousand population.
The infant mortality rate for the year was eight infant deaths per thousand live births.
Women are still likely to outlive men, with life expectancy at birth for males being 75 years, while females can expect to enjoy five years more.
Life expectancy compares favourably with that of more developed countries, although infant mortality is slightly higher.
The main causes of death in 1997 were diseases of the circulatory system and diseases of the respiratory system. Figures remained similar to previous years, along with the number of deaths caused by accidents, injuries and poisoning.
