跨国婚姻大势所趋:德国先生娶法国太太,英美小姐嫁西班牙丈夫_BEC初级作文

跨国婚姻大势所趋:德国先生娶法国太太,英美小姐嫁西班牙丈夫

The Mamma Mia factor

The rate seems to be rising fastest in Mediterranean countries: in Spain and Italy, cross-border marriages accounted for less than 5% of the total in 1995; by 2009, the share had reached 14% in Italy and 22% in Spain. Cyprus is a special case: no less than three-quarters of marriages there in 2009 were international (up from half in 1995). But that is because Venus’s birthplace has a thriving wedding-and-honeymoon market. Many couples from abroad wed there.

在地中海国家中，这个比例似乎是增长最快的：在西班牙和意大利，1995年跨国婚姻只占总数的5%，到了2009年，意大利这个比例上升到14%，而西班牙则上升到22%。塞浦路斯则是个特殊的个案：2009年至少四分之三的婚姻都是跨国组合（1995年的数字是二分之一）。其原因是诞生了维纳斯的地方也滋生了一个蓬勃发展的举行婚礼和度蜜月目的地的甜蜜市场。许多别国的情侣会在那登记结婚。

Such figures are based on wedding records. Another way of getting at the trends is census micro-data (ie, from detailed samples collected as part of the census). These have a wider coverage, are extremely precise, and go back decades, which is helpful. On the other hand, many countries do not provide them. Researchers from the Centre for Demographic Studies (Barcelona) and the Minnesota Population Centre have for the first time trawled through the censuses of more than 50 countries in every continent for people aged 25-39. In general, they find that cross-border marriages are rising in most places, but the most significant fact is the big difference between levels in rich and developing ones.