Religious Marriages Down While Civil Marriages Increase
In Costa Rica, for every 100 marriages, only 24 take place in a church, while 76 are civil marriages. According to the Registro Civil, of the 23.880 marriages registered in 2006, 18.182 were civil while 5.698 where catholic.

In 1980 the proportion was totally inverted, when 77 out of 100 tying the knot did do in front of a Catholic priest.

Catholic marriages began their slide during the 1990s. Between 1990 and last year the number of Catholic marriages dropped by an average of 8.255 each year or 60%. In 2006, Catholic priests performed 1.267 marriages less than in 2005, as civil marriages continue to increase.

Last year, the Registro Civil registered a total of 14.209 more civil marriages than the 3.973 civil marriages registered in 1980.

Civil marriages continue to dominate over religious marriages, although a representative of the Evangelical churches estimates that 10% (or 1.800) of the civil marriages registered in 2006 where before a pastor.

Experts believe that the drop in couples choosing to marry in a church has dropped due to the loss of faith in the Catholic church over the last number of years.

A poll by Unimer reveals that between 1997 and 2006, the percentage of the Costa Rican population that declares itself Catholic dropped from 78% to 67% during that period.

Pedro Beirute, a family rights specialists, says that the premarital courses offered by the Catholic church focuses on religious and spiritual topics rather than "social" topics, like alcoholism, infidelity and drug addiction. "This makes people less interested in the courses". said Beirute.

Another reason for the drop in Catholic marriages, according to the experts, is that people prefer not to marry in a church for in the event of a divorce, according to church rules, the person would be committing adultery in the event he or she remarries and cannot receive communion.

Experts believe that civil marriages will continue to rise as many families are now composed of divorcees or a single family head and common law.

According to the 1986 Census, 68.818 people lived common law. The 2000 Census revealed that that number jumped to 387.512 and is expected to double by 2010.

Based on the Census figures, an estimated 310.000 couples live common law, even though this arrangement binds the couple legally after three years, whereas marriages is immediate.

According to sociologist Jorge Mora, a reason for the increase in civil marriages is that now women a fighting more for their rights and opt for divorce if they are mistreated or are not happy in the marriage.

San José Archbishop, monseñor Hugo Barrantes, confirms that the number of Catholic marriages is on the decline, especially from the beginning of the 1980s when the Catholic church began requiring that both of the parties in the marriage be of age of majority. Before that, Barrantes explains, the woman had to be at least 14 years of age, while the man 16, to be married in the Catholic church.

Barrantes adds that another reason for the decline is the requisite by the Catholic church that the couple attend premarital classes before they could tie the knot. "Before people liked to marry in the church as it was cheaper and they could obtain a housing bond", said Barrantes. The monseñor said he is concerned on the drop, resulting also from the appearance of other religions.

A Civil marriage in Costa Rica is quite simple. The couple only has to visit a lawyer's office, where the union is recorded in the lawyer's and both parties signing it. The lawyer then fills out the Registro Civil form and submits it for registration.