The divorce rate in Italy increased by 60% in 2020, according to the Italian National Divorce Association.
“Requests for separation have increased a lot, mainly because of forced coexistence,” said the association’s president, family lawyer Matteo Santini, on Sky TG24.
In 40% of cases, the divorces happened because lockdown made it harder to hide infidelity and “double lives”, lawyers said.
Another 30 percent of separations were due to domestic violence and the remaining 30 percent were listed as due to other causes, such as economic stress, for example.
“It’s one thing to share weekends and evenings, it’s another to share the whole day, with all the problems related to the health emergency: health stress due to illness, lack of work, living with children with difficulties related to distance learning”, Santini said.
“This causes an emotional explosion that leads to the desire for separation and the request for separation.”
As with many sets of statistics in Italy, there was a marked difference between the north and south of the country.
There were more than twice as many separations recorded in the north in 2020, with 450 cases per thousand couples in the north and 200 in southern Italy.
Italy, where more than 80% of people describe themselves as Catholic, has long had one of the lowest divorce rates in Europe, with only Ireland, Slovenia and Malta having lower figures.
The number of divorces in the country, however, increased in 2015, after the enactment of legislation that makes ending failed marriages easier and faster.
Several Italian studies have confirmed that the pandemic and subsequent economic crisis are having a major impact on families.
The national statistics agency Istat reported that Italy's birth rate fell further due to "the climate of fear and uncertainty and the growing difficulties linked to employment and income generated by recent events."
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