GLOSSARY

Age-specific divorce rates

Age specific divorce rates give an indication of the proportion of people within a certain age group granted divorce. Age specific divorce rates are calculated in two different ways:

• Per 1,000 population - this relates the number of divorces recorded in the calendar year for a particular age group (by age at decree made absolute), to the estimated resident population of the same age at 30 June of the same year. Males and females under 16 years are excluded from the population as they are unlikely to be granted divorce due to legislative restrictions on age at which a person can marry. For data prior to 2006, males under 18 years and females under 16 years were excluded.
• Per 1,000 married population - this relates the number of divorces recorded in a calendar year for a particular age group (by age at decree made absolute) to the married population of the same age at 30 June. Population by marital status is only available from the Census of Population and Housing, conducted every five years and so divorces granted per married population can only be calculated for Census years.

Applicant

The applicant is the person applying for divorce. Applications for divorce may be made by the husband or wife individually, or as a joint application.

Children

Children in the divorce collection are defined as unmarried children of the marriage who were aged under 18 years at the time of application for divorce. Under the Family Law Act 1975 these may include adopted and exnuptial children and children from a former marriage. Children who are either married or aged 18 years or over are not subject to custody and guardianship orders and are therefore excluded.

Crude divorce rate

The crude divorce rate is the number of divorces granted during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. For years prior to 1992, the crude divorce rate was based on the mean estimated resident population of the calendar year rather than at 30 June.

Date of application

Date at which application for divorce was made.

Date of divorce

Date at which decree nisi is made absolute (final) and the marriage is dissolved.

Date of separation

The date of separation is the date, given on the application for divorce, from which the period of living apart is calculated for the purpose of establishing grounds for a divorce. In determining the date of separation, a single period of resumed cohabitation of less than three months may be ignored, provided the periods of living apart before and after resumed cohabitation amount to a total of 12 months or more.

Decree made absolute

Once the Court is satisfied that a twelve month separation period has passed and proper arrangements have been made for any children, it will grant a decree nisi.

The decree nisi automatically becomes absolute (final) one month later and is sent to the parties in the mail. Technically the parties are still married until the order becomes absolute, and they cannot remarry until then. This waiting period can be shortened in cases of urgency or hardship.

The court may rescind the decree nisi before it becomes absolute if the parties have become reconciled or if the court is satisfied that there has been a miscarriage of justice. Otherwise, the marriage is dissolved when the decree becomes absolute, and either party may marry again.

Length of marriage to divorce

Length of marriage to divorce is the interval measured in completed years between the date of marriage and the date of divorce.

Length of marriage to separation

Length of marriage to separation is the interval measured in completed years between the date of marriage and the date of separation.

Estimated resident population (ERP)

The official measure of the population of Australia is based on the concept of residence. It refers to all people, regardless of nationality or citizenship, who usually live in Australia, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families. It includes usual residents who are overseas for less than 12 months. It excludes overseas visitors who are in Australia for less than 12 months.

Median value

For any distribution, the median value (e.g. age, length, interval) is that value which divides the relevant population into two equal parts, half falling below the value and half exceeding it. Where the value for a particular record has not been stated, that record is excluded from the calculation. Medians for grouped data (e.g. age in whole year age groups) are calculated as the value which divides the population into two equal parts, assuming that all observations within the group are evenly distributed across the range. This is applied using the following formula:

Median = L + I x (N/2-F)/f

Where:

L = lower limit of the interval containing the median
I = width of the interval containing the median
N = total number of respondents
F = cumulative frequency corresponding to the lower limit
f = number of cases in the interval containing the median

State and territory data

State and territory data are tabulated based on the state or territory in which the court granting divorce is located (see paragraphs 20-25 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail).