Belarus marked Family Day on May 15, 2025. On the eve of the holiday, May 14, Yekaterina Rechits, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, appeared on Belarus National Radio’s to remind viewers and listeners about traditional values and share statistics. She noted, in particular, that 95% of Belarusians consider family a core value. Most are concerned about global trends of marrying and having children later in life.
“Today, it’s fair to say that the Republic of Belarus is truly a stronghold of family and traditional values and can serve as an example for many other countries,” the analyst said.
According to official statistics, Belarusians entered into nearly 56,000 marriages in 2023. That’s 6.1 marriages per 1,000 people. In Russia, the figure is slightly higher at 6.5. This is indeed higher than in other European countries and the European Union as a whole. Across the EU, the average is four marriages per 1,000 people. The highest rates are in Romania, at 5.8, and Latvia, at 5.6 per 1,000 people.
Belarusian men and women marry earlier—on average, before the age of 30. In EU countries, most people marry after 30. However, marriages in the European Union are more likely to last. In 2023, 34,000 couples in Belarus got divorced—that’s 3.7 divorces per 1,000 people. That means divorces make up about 60% of all marriages registered that year. In Russia, the rate is 70%.
The numbers look different across the European Union. In Latvia and Lithuania, which have high marriage rates for Europe, about half of all marriages end in divorce. That’s still lower than in Belarus, though not by much. However, in Poland, for example, the divorce rate is about one and a half times lower than in Belarus.
To complete the picture, the WTF team also compared abortion rates. In Belarus, the rate is 7.5 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. In Russia, the figure is nearly twice as high, making it the leader among European countries with available data. Across the European Union, abortion statistics vary significantly from country to country. Spain’s abortion rate is similar to Belarus. Estonia’s rate is even higher. But in most countries, the rate is below 7.5.
Which leads to a conclusion that Belarus cannot serve as a positive example for many other countries.