Births, deaths, paternity recognition and of course marriages: these civil status procedures for 23,000 people from nine municipalities have been processed centrally in the Freistadt city office for five years. The registry office association has long been considered a model for regional cooperation in local government, says its chairman, Freistadt Mayor Christian Gratzl: “Citizens receive full service directly on site. Lovers can still get married in their home community. The survey activities are often very complicated Our three highly trained association employees in Freistadt do the work behind it.”
In fact, detective skills are often required when preparing the formal requirements for a marriage. The 638 weddings and 20 registered partnerships that have been supported since 2019 affected countries such as Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand, Afghanistan and Mongolia. People from the Czech Republic particularly enjoyed getting married in the Freistadt town hall. In total, the association’s registrars have issued exactly 12,245 documents since its founding in January 2019: birth and death certificates as well as proof of citizenship. In addition to the district capital, the communities of Grünbach, Hirschbach, Leopoldschlag, Rainbach, Sandl, St. Oswald bei Freistadt and Waldburg are also represented in the association.
The number of births is falling significantly
Last year, the three registrars issued 433 birth certificates. Five years earlier there were 520. Last year, the names Leonie, Marlene, Marie and Amelie were entered most often on a birth certificate for girls. The most popular boy names in 2023 were Tobias, Simon, Moritz and Valentin.
While the number of births is declining, the number of weddings remains stable: exactly 130 couples got married in both 2019 and 2023. In the intervening years, this number fluctuated only slightly up or down. The number of deaths has increased slightly.
Author
Bernhard Leitner
Local editor Mühlviertel
Bernhard Leitner
