DIVORCED MARRIAGES IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA REGIONAL ANALYSES OF THE FREQUENCY

The influence of the social, economic, political, cultural and other changes and processes that are taking place in the country can be felt in the demogeographic changes that the Republic of Macedonia faces today. This global trend of demogeographic changes, such as lower birth and fertility rates, new conceptions of marriage and family, delayed marriage, new types of communities, changes in the educational level of the population, changes in the economic status, increased number of divorces and other, are also present in the Republic of Macedonia. The phenomenon of increased number of divorces is especially concerning, because it is becoming an integral part of the society more and more, and it reflects on all the processes of the population, particularly fertility. Despite the new understanding of life and the new types of informal communities, in most countries (even in the most developed), most of the children are still born within the marital union. This paper elaborates the regional analysis of the trend of divorced marriages in the Republic of Macedonia, the crude divorce rate, the number of divorces per 1,000 inhabitants older than 15 years and the number of divorces per 1,000 marriages in the period from 1991 to 2016. Divorces are also processed according to certain characteristics of the spouses. The purpose of this research is to point out the differences that occur among the regions when it comes to divorce.