STATE AND TERRITORY DATA

Divorce statistics in this publication are presented by the State or Territory where the court granting divorce was located, rather than the State or Territory of usual residence of the applicants. The ABS advises caution in the interpretation of data at a State or Territory level as applicants for divorce may apply through their nearest court rather than a court in their State or Territory of usual residence. For further information refer to Explanatory Notes 25-30 for more information.

In 2011, the number of divorces granted in all States and Territories decreased compared with 2010, with the exception of Western Australia where the number of divorces granted increased (185, or 3.8% higher in comparison to 2010). The largest decreases occurred in New South Wales (738, or 5.0% lower in comparison to 2010) and South Australia by 343 or 8.9% lower in comparison to 2010.

2.9 Number of divorces, States and Territories(a) - Selected years - 1991-2011
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
1991	13 151	11 134	8 934	4 215	4 446	1 383	419	1 970	45 652
2001	16 057	13 722	12 085	4 545	5 351	1 439	447	1 684	55 330
2007	13 726	11 833	11 058	3 534	4 932	1 127	417	1 333	47 963
2008	13 914	11 623	10 615	3 466	4 718	1 154	367	1 351	47 209
2009	14 617	12 160	11 174	3 663	4 767	1 215	433	1 419	49 448
2010	14 655	12 368	11 418	3 849	4 835	1 257	429	1 429	50 240
2011	13 917	12 271	11 393	3 506	5 020	1 096	351	1 381	48 935
(a) Divorces are presented by the State or Territory where the court granting divorce was located, rather than the State or Territory of usual residence of the applicants. The ABS advises caution in the interpretation and comparison of data at a State or Territory level. See Explanatory Notes 25-30 for more information.

Queensland had the highest crude divorce rate of 2.5 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population, while the Northern Territory had the lowest divorce rate at 1.5 per 1,000 estimated resident population.

Northern Territory and Victoria reported the highest proportion of all divorces involving children, at 54.9% and 54.5% respectively. The Australian Capital Territory (52.5%) and Queensland (52.8%) reported the lowest proportion of divorces involving children.

The highest median age at divorce for both males and females was in Tasmania with 45.9 years for males and 43.2 years for females. New South Wales and Victoria both had the lowest median ages at divorce for males (44.1 years) while New South Wales also had the lowest median age at divorce for females at 41.1 years of age.

Median length of marriage prior to divorce was highest in Tasmania (14.4 years), while New South Wales (11.4 years) had the shortest median length of marriage to divorce.

In 2011, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory all recorded more joint applications for divorce than male or female only applications.

2.10 Selected divorce indicators, States and Territories(a) - 2011
			NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT(b)	Aust.(c)
Divorces granted		no.	13 917	12 271	11 393	3 506	5 020	1 096	351	1 381	48 935
Crude divorce rate(d)			1.9	2.2	2.5	2.1	2.1	2.1	1.5	na	2.2
Divorces involving children(e)
	Proportion of all divorces	%	54.3	54.5	52.8	53.7	54.2	53.5	54.9	52.5	53.8
	Average number of children per divorce(f)	no.	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.9	1.8	1.9	1.9
Median age at divorce
	Males	years	44.1	44.1	44.7	44.9	45.3	45.9	44.7	44.8	44.5
	Females	years	41.1	41.5	42.0	42.1	42.5	43.2	41.6	41.8	41.7
Median length of marriage
	To separation	years	8.0	8.5	8.9	9.2	9.4	10.8	7.6	9.6	8.7
	To divorce	years	11.4	12.1	12.4	12.8	12.9	14.4	11.4	13.0	12.2
Applicant(g)
	Male	no.	3 690	3 385	2 870	930	1 291	320	90	348	12 924
	Female	no.	4 827	4 724	3 976	1 364	1 574	428	103	443	17 439
	Joint	no.	5 400	4 162	4 547	1 212	2 155	348	158	590	18 572
na not available
(a) Divorces are presented by the State or Territory location of the court granting divorce rather than usual residence, and as such caution should be taken in comparing divorce numbers with the populations of each State or Territory. See Explanatory Notes 25-30 for more information.
(b) Rates for the Australian Capital Territory are not published due to the high proportion of applicants from south-eastern New South Wales and Victoria who apply for divorce through the Australian Capital Territory courts. See Explanatory Note 27 for more information.
(c) The total may be greater than the sum of its components as it includes divorces granted where the State or Territory of registration was not available.
(d) Per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June 2011. See Glossary and Explanatory Notes 32 and 39-41 for more information.
(e) Unmarried children of the marriage who were under 18 years of age at the time of application for divorce. See Glossary for more information.
(f) Excludes divorces not involving children.
(g) Excludes divorces where type of applicant is not stated.

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