More couples in the Netherlands are choosing to get married and the number of people opting for a registered partnership is declining, new figures from national statistics agency CBS have shown.

Registered partnerships were introduced 25 years ago and 2022 is the first time that their number has gone down significantly, the CBS said.

Some 24,000 couples entered into a registered partnership in 2022, 2,000 fewer than the year before. The number of weddings jumped to 70,000, over 5,000 more than in the years before the pandemic, ending years of decline.

The restrictions that were in place during the coronavirus crisis, when people were only allowed to have a certain number of guests at their wedding and had to keep to the 1.5m social distancing rule, made a registered partnership the easier option. Many also chose to postpone traditional weddings, CBS said.

Registered partnerships were particularly popular with same sex couples but since 2001, when same sex marriage was made legal, weddings have been overtaking registered partnerships in the gay community as well.

The CBS said registered partnerships became much more popular in the years after 2014 when the government gave registered partners the same paternity rights as married couples.

Find out more key facts about marriage in the Netherlands here.