The Marriage Statistics experienced an important variation in the year 2005, for the purpose of the entry into force of Law 13/2005, of 1 July (B.O.E. of 2 July 2005), modifying the Civil Code in terms of the right to marry. Said law allows marriages between persons of the same or different sexes, with complete and equal rights and responsibilities, irregardless of the composition of said marriages. The sex variable of each of the spouses was introduced in the statistical register. These statistics include all marriages registered in the Civil Register.
This analyses the characteristics of both different-sex marriages and same-sex marriages. The study variables are the following: place of registration of the marriage and month of celebration, form of celebration (Catholic religion, another religion or solely civil), previous residence of each spouse, planned place of residence of the married couple, year of birth, age and profession of both spouses, marital status, sex, nationality.
Two types of register are used for the information collection, the Statistical Marriage Register and the Ecclesiastical Marriage Register.