The number of divorces in Germany is decreasing, said the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Tuesday.

According to official data, roughly 169,800 married couples divorced in Germany in 2013, representing a decrease of 5.2 percent compared to 2012.

Destatis reported that, based on current patterns, approximately 36 percent of all marriages registered in a year will end in divorce within the next 25 years.

However, marriages in Germany on average are lasting longer than before. While the average duration of marriages ending in divorce in 2013 was 14 years and 8 months, in 1993 marriages lasted on average 11 years and 7 months before the couple decided to split.

Figures showed divorce applications were filed by the woman in 52 percent of cases and the man in 40 percent of cases. In the remaining cases, both spouses jointly applied for divorce.

Remarkably, the number of divorces after 26 years of marriage or more has risen in the past 20 years from 14,300 to 24,300.

Almost half of the divorced couples had minor children in Germany, with some 136,000 girls and boys affected. However, the number of children affected by divorce is nearly 5 percent less than in 2012. Endi

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