Registered Marital Status establishes whether people are currently or have ever been in a registered marriage. Social Marital Status is a related concept that establishes people's current living arrangements by relationship status. The two concepts measure different personal characteristics and are treated as independent variables with separate classifications. The standard variables can be used independently or cross-classified, depending on the purpose of the analysis. Registered Marital Status is also used in the derivation of Social Marital Status.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recommends that Registered Marital Status is output where official marriage arrangements are specifically required for analysis, and that Social Marital Status is output when information on current living arrangements and partnerships is required.

The name of the variable is Registered Marital Status.

The variable Registered Marital Status is defined as a person's relationship status in terms of whether they currently have, or have had, a legally registered marriage with another person with whom they hold or held a valid marriage certificate.

People who have a relationship or civil union registered under the Relationships Act 2003 (Tasmania), Relationships Act 2008 (Victoria), Civil Partnership Act 2008 (Australian Capital Territory), Relationship Register Act 2010 (New South Wales) or the Civil Partnerships Act 2011 (Queensland) are not partners in a registered marriage under the Marriage Act 1961.

The Marriage Act 1961 states that a person may be married at 18 years; however, people from the age of 16 years may apply to a Judge or Magistrate in a State or Territory for an order authorising a marriage. The Act allows for recognition of official marriages that took place in other countries where people may be able to marry at younger ages.

Registered Marital Status is a characteristic of the counting unit 'person'.

The operational definition of Registered Marital Status is the same as the nominal definition (see above). However, as responses are obtained by a direct question, the result will depend on the respondent's perception of their marital status. For example, some respondents in de facto relationships may report their Registered Marital Status as Married although they are not in a registered marriage. This means that operationally, answers to the the question may not directly reflect the nominal definition.

The variable Registered Marital Status applies operationally to all people aged 15 years and over in Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) surveys and the Census of Population and Housing. Although the legal age of marriage in Australia is 18, this age range supports the inclusion of the exceptions to this rule that are noted in the 'Nominal definition' section, above.

Registered Marital Status has no supporting variables.

It is possible to report marital status in more than one way. For example, someone who is currently living in a de facto relationship and is separated from a previous registered marriage could be described as both de facto and separated. They would be reported as Separated in the Registered Marital Status classification, and In a de facto relationship in the Social Marital Status classification.

No specific measurement issues apply to the Registered Marital Status variable beyond the normal constraints affecting statistical collections, such as problems with confidentiality and standard errors which may prevent the output of data for some of the categories of the classification.

The ABS recommends that partners in traditional marriages involving Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people should be coded as being married in a registered marriage even though such marriages are not registered under the Marriage Act 1961. This 'functional recognition' is endorsed in the Australian Law Reform Commission Report 31 (1986).

The criteria used in classifying Registered Marital Status are:

Registered Marital Status is a single-level classification with the following five categories and code structure:

1. Never married
2. Widowed
3. Divorced
4. Separated
5. Married

Not applicable.

The following supplementary code is used to code non-responses:

0 Not stated

The classification Registered Marital Status applies operationally to all people aged 15 years and over in Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys and the Census of Population and Housing. Although the legal age of marriage in Australia is 18, this age range supports the inclusion of the exceptions to this rule that are noted in the 'Nominal definition' section, above.

Registered Marital Status can be cross-tabulated with Social Marital Status. Care should be taken to ensure that labels and footnotes clearly differentiate the two variables. Recommendations for the output structure of this cross tabulation are provided in the 'Output' section of this standard.

Registered Marital Status is coded to the classification as reported. All categories of the classification are read out or presented as tick-box options, and each of the possible responses is assigned a unique numerical code.

The standard question for collecting Registered Marital Status is shown below.

The different wording options in the brackets depend on mode and who is answering, as follows:

• Paper or online form, answering for self: 'What is your marital status?'
• Paper form, answering for another member of the household: 'What is their marital status?'
• Online form where the person's name can be imported into the field, answering for another member of the household: 'What is [name's] current marital status?'

The term 'legal' is not used in the question wording, however the question encourages respondents to report legally registered marital status with an instruction stating that 'Married refers to registered marriages', and by not including a de facto option in the answer categories.

An additional question 'When did [you/(name of person)/they] get married? [mm/yy]' may be used to screen out de facto relationships if a more precise measure of this concept is required.

Registered Marital Status can also be derived from the suite of Social Marital Status questions.

The standard input categories are the same as the categories of the Registered Marital Status classification with the addition of the supplementary category, 'Not stated':

The standard output categories for Registered Marital Status are the same as the standard classification. This is a non-hierarchical structure comprising the five categories: 

Output may also include the supplementary code 0: Not stated, if applicable. (Note - in the Census of Population and Housing, if registered marital status is not stated, it is imputed. For more information, see the glossary term 'Registered Marital Status (MSTP) contained in the Census of Population and Housing: Census Dictionary, 2016 (cat. no. 1286.0)).

The term 'Not married' can be used for people whose registered marital status is coded as Never married, Widowed or Divorced. People whose registered marital status is coded as Separated are not considered to be 'Not married' as they have not divorced. The term 'Not married' should be footnoted as follows:

• Refers to people whose registered marital status is Never married, Widowed or Divorced, including those who are living with a de facto partner.,

The term 'Ever married' can be used to refer to people whose registered marital status is other than Never married. It should be footnoted as follows:

• Refers to people whose registered marital status is Widowed, Divorced, Separated, or Married.

Registered Marital Status can be cross-classified with Social Marital Status. A standard output structure for this cross-classification can be found in the 'Output' section of the Social Marital Status Standard contained in this publication. Care should be taken to ensure that labels and footnotes clearly differentiate the two variables.

No specific measurement issues apply to the variable Registered Marital Status beyond the normal constraints affecting statistical collections, such as problems with confidentiality and standard errors which may prevent the output of data for some of the categories of the classification.

Because of the close connection between Registered Marital Status, Social Marital Status, Relationship in Household, Family Composition and Household Composition, none of these should be changed without first considering any implications of the proposed change for the other related classifications.