The number of marriages in Holland last year rose slightly to 73,000 says the national statistics office CBS, which attributes the increase to an upturn in the economy. ‘If consumers are optimistic, they spend more. That stimulates people to get married,’ the CBS said.

In 2005 only 72,000 people got married, the lowest figure since the Second World War. In the early 1970s the number of weddings was around 120,000.