MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES, AUSTRALIA

The Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2012 (cat. no. 3310.0) publication provides data and information about marriages registered and divorces granted in Australia in 2012. Data is presented on a State or Territory of registration basis rather than a State or Territory of usual residence basis. See Explanatory Notes 23 to 29 for further information.

Marriage statistics presented in this publication provide statistics at State, Territory and national levels regarding the number of marriages registered, crude marriage rates, median age at marriage, age-specific marriage rates, previous marital status, use of marriage celebrants, country of birth of those marrying, and living arrangements for couples prior to marriage.

Divorce statistics in this publication provide State, Territory and national levels regarding the number of divorces granted, crude divorce rates, ages at marriage, separation and divorce, age-specific divorce rates, divorces involving children, duration of marriage prior to divorce, and applicants for divorce.

Detailed marriage and divorce tables are available in data cubes which can be accessed through the 'Downloads' tab at the top of this page. Explanatory notes, abbreviations and a glossary of terms can be accessed through the 'Explanatory Notes' tab.

This product replaces both Marriages, Australia (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001) and Divorces, Australia (cat. no. 3307.0.55.001) from 2008 onwards. Marriage data between 2003 and 2007 can be found in the electronic product Marriages, Australia (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001) and divorce data between 2002 and 2007 can be found in the electronic product Divorces, Australia (cat. no. 3307.0.55.001).


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

MARRIAGES

In 2012, there were 123,244 marriages registered in Australia, an increase of 1,492 (1.2%) from the 121,752 marriages registered in 2011.

Despite the increase in the number of marriages, the crude marriage rate for 2012 is unchanged from 2011, remaining at 5.4 marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population.

The median age of males and females at marriage was 31.4 and 29.4 years respectively in 2012. The median age at marriage for males remains unchanged from 2011 while the median age
at marriage of females has increased by 0.1 from 29.3 in 2011.

The proportion of marriage ceremonies performed by civil celebrants has continued to increase in 2012, with civil celebrants performing 71.9% of all registered marriage ceremonies, an increase from 70.1% in 2011.

Couples who lived together prior to marriage accounted for 77.6% of all marriages registered in 2012, a decrease from the 78.2% registered in 2011.

The proportion of marriages with both partners marrying for the first time increased in 2012 to 71.8% of all marriages. The number of marriages where one partner was marrying for the first time decreased from 16.8% in 2011 to 16.3% in 2012, while the proportion of remarriages for both partners decreased from 11.9 in 2011 to 11.8% in 2012.

In 2012, 56.0% of couples married were both born in Australia, 31.4% were born in different countries, and 12.5% were born in the same overseas country.

1.1 SELECTED MARRIAGE INDICATORS(a), Australia, Selected years, 1992–2012

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				1992	2002	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012(b)
Marriages registered			no.	114,752	105,435	118,756	120,118	121,176	121,752	123,244
Crude marriage rate(c)			rate	6.6	5.4	5.5	5.5	5.4	5.4	5.4
Previous marital status
	First marriage both partners		no.	79,632	69,861	82,847	84,780	86,330	86,862	88,543
	First marriage one partner		no.	21,436	19,462	19,969	20,107	20,128	20,416	20,091
	Remarriage both partners		no.	16,206	16,112	15,940	15,231	14,718	14,474	14,604
Marriage celebrant
	Ministers of religion(d)
		Number	no.	71,853	47,400	41,545	39,740	37,251	36,372	34,613
		Proportion	%	61.3	45.0	35.0	33.1	30.7	29.9	28.1
	Civil Celebrants(d)
		Number	no.	45,421	58,035	77,142	80,340	83,800	85,311	88,599
		Proportion	%	38.7	55.0	65.0	66.9	69.2	70.1	71.9
Relative birthplace of couple(e)
	Both born in Australia		no.	73,547	65,020	70,521	69,643	68,588	67,882	69,048
	Both born in the same overseas country		no.	9,012	9,210	12,460	14,210	14,585	15,321	15,438
	Born in different countries		no.	32,190	31,184	35,629	36,185	37,925	38,487	38,687
Cohabitation prior to marriage
	Number		no.	na	77,024	92,220	92,978	95,194	95,228	95,673
	Proportion of all marriages		%	na	73.1	77.7	77.4	78.6	78.2	77.6
na not available
(a) See Glossary for definitions of terms used.
(b) Care should be taken in interpreting Victorian data for 2012 as the category values are calculated from a weighted sample. Please see Explanatory Notes 27–29 for further information.
(c) Marriages per 1,000 of estimated resident population at 30 June for each reference year respectively. See Glossary and Explanatory Notes 36–42 for further information.
(d) Excludes marriages where the rite is not stated or not defined. Registers of ministers of religion are maintained by states and territories under the authority of the Marriage Act 1961. Data on religious marriage rites are classified to the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG), 2011 (cat. no. 1266.0).
(e) Excludes marriages where country of birth of one or both partners is not stated.

DIVORCES

In 2012, there were 49,917 divorces granted in Australia, an increase of 982 (2.0%) from the 48,935 divorces granted in 2011.

The crude divorce rate for the number of divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population remained at 2.2 in 2012, the same rate as reported in 2011.

The median age of males and females at divorce was 44.6 and 41.8 years respectively in 2012. Median age at divorce in 2012 has increased 0.1 years for both males and females from figures reported in 2011.

In 2012, divorces involving children represented 48.4% of all divorces granted compared to 48.3% in 2011. The number of children involved in divorces totalled 48,288 in 2012, an increase from the 43,867 reported in 2011. The average number of children per divorce involving children in 2012 was 1.9 the same figure as reported in 2011.

The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2012 was 12.2 years, the same duration of marriage as reported in 2011. This figure has decreased from a peak of 12.6 years in 2005.

Over the last 20 years, the proportion of divorces granted as result of joint applications for divorce has been increasing. This has continued in 2012 to the point where joint applicants are the highest applicant type for the third year in a row, with 19,819 divorces granted from joint applications, compared with 17,140 from female applicants and 12,958 from male applicants.

1.2 SELECTED DIVORCE INDICATORS, Australia, Selected years, 1992-2012

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			1992	2002	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Divorces granted		no.	45,729	54,004	47,209	49,448	50,240	48,935	49,917
Crude divorce rate(a)		rate	2.6	2.7	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.2	2.2
Median length of marriage
	To separation	years	7.4	8.6	8.8	8.7	8.8	8.7	8.6
	To divorce	years	10.5	12.0	12.3	12.3	12.3	12.2	12.2
Divorces involving children(b)
	Divorces	no.	24,215	26,820	23,023	24,268	24,853	23,619	24,144
	Proportion of all divorces	%	53.0	49.7	48.8	49.1	49.5	48.3	48.4
	Total number of children	no.	45,782	50,509	43,184	45,195	46,337	43,867	48,288
	Average number of children per divorce(c)	no.	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.9
Relative birthplace of people granted divorce(d)
	Both born in Australia	no.	25,619	na	24,882	25,922	26,305	24,890	25,301
	Both born in same overseas country	no.	5,673	na	6,698	7,550	8,064	8,455	8,623
	Born in different countries	no.	14,121	na	13,371	13,295	13,553	13,194	13,517
Type of applicant(e)
	Male	no.	16,470	16,114	12,979	13,236	13,215	12,924	12,958
	Female	no.	22,083	24,049	17,617	18,149	18,083	17,439	17,140
	Joint	no.	7,176	13,841	16,613	18,063	18,941	18,572	19,819
na not available
(a) Number of divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June for each reference year respectively. See Glossary and Explanatory Notes 33–34 and 38–40 for more information.
(b) Unmarried children of the marriage who were aged under 18 years at the time of application for divorce. See Glossary for more information.
(c) Excludes divorces not involving children.
(d) Excludes divorces where country of birth of one party or both parties is not stated.
(e) Excludes divorces where type of applicant is not stated.