3310.0 - Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2014  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/11/2015   
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MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES, AUSTRALIA

This publication provides data and information about marriages registered and divorces granted in Australia in 2014 on a state or territory of registration basis rather than a state or territory of usual residence. The publication presents statistics on 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 level data for 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.

2014 KEY POINTS

There were 121,197 marriages registered and 46,498 divorces granted in Australia in 2014. Over the past five years there has been a gradual increase in the median age at separation and divorce. This aligns with a gradual increase in the median age at first marriage.



MARRIAGES

    · The number of marriages increased in 2014 by 2,238 (1.9%) and the crude marriage rate increased from 5.1 in 2013 to 5.2 marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population in 2014.

    · Civil celebrants have overseen the majority of marriages since 1999 and the proportion of marriage ceremonies overseen by a civil celebrant increased again to 74.1 per cent of all marriages in 2014.

    · In 2014, the majority of brides (81.2%) and grooms (79.7%) had not been married before.

    · The median age at marriage in 2014 was 31.5 years for males and 29.6 years for females. The median age at marriage has remained stable for males since 2013, while for females it increased by 0.1 years.




DIVORCES

    · The number of divorces decreased by 1,140 (2.4%) in 2014 and the crude divorce rate decreased from 2.1 in 2013 to 2.0 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population in 2014.

    · The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2014 was 12.0 years, a slight decrease from 12.1 years reported in 2013.

    · The median age at divorce for males was 45.2 years of age and the median age of females was 42.5 years of age for those divorces granted in 2014.

    · The largest proportion of divorce applications were from joint applicants, accounting for 41.5% of divorces. Female applicants accounted for 32.5% of divorce applications while male applicants accounted for 26.0%.




SUMMARY TABLES

MARRIAGES

In 2014, there were 121,197 marriages registered in Australia, an increase of 2,238 (1.9%) from the 118,959 marriages registered in 2013. The crude marriage rate also increased from 5.1 to 5.2 marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population.

The median age of males and females at marriage was 31.5 and 29.6 years respectively in 2014. The median age at marriage for males has remained steady at 31.5, while the median age at marriage for females has increased by 0.1 years since 2013.

The proportion of marriage ceremonies performed by civil celebrants has continued to increase in 2014, with civil celebrants performing 74.1% of all registered marriage ceremonies, an increase from 72.5% in 2013.

Couples who lived together prior to marriage accounted for 79.4% of all marriages registered in 2014, an increase from the 76.6% recorded in 2013.

Marriages where both partners were marrying for the first time accounted for 72.5% of all marriage in 2014. The number of marriages where one partner was marrying for the first time decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 16.0% in 2014, while the proportion of remarriages for both partners increased from 11.4% in 2013 to 11.5% in 2014.

In 2014, 54.5% of couples married were both born in Australia, 31.7% were born in different countries, and 13.3% were born in the same overseas country.


1.1 SELECTED MARRIAGE INDICATORS(a), Australia, Selected years, 1994–2014
1994
2004
2010
2011
2012(b)
2013(b)
2014
Marriages registered
no.
111,174
110,958
121,173
121,754
123,243
118,959
121,197
Crude marriage rate(c)
rate
6.2
5.5
5.4
5.4
5.4
5.1
5.2
Previous marital status
First marriage both partners
no.
75,045
74,581
86,328
86,863
88,540
86,076
87,811
First marriage one partner
no.
20,159
19,994
20,129
20,415
20,089
19,339
19,433
Remarriage both partners
no.
15,970
16,382
14,715
14,476
14,604
13,549
13,952
Marriage celebrant
Ministers of religion(d)
Number
no.
63,265
45,857
37,254
36,375
34,612
32,601
31,278
Proportion
%
56.9
41.3
30.7
29.9
28.1
27.4
25.8
Civil Celebrants(d)
Number
no.
47,909
65,100
83,799
85,311
88,599
86,301
89,861
Proportion
%
43.1
58.7
69.2
70.1
71.9
72.5
74.1
Relative birthplace of couple(e)
Both born in Australia
no.
71,665
68,639
68,586
67,882
69,046
65,605
66,074
Both born in the same overseas country
no.
8,853
9,686
14,588
15,319
15,439
15,728
16,188
Born in different countries
no.
30,652
32,630
37,925
38,488
38,686
37,553
38,408
Cohabitation prior to marriage
Number
no.
na
83,728
95,197
95,226
95,670
91,120
96,223
Proportion of all marriages
%
na
75.5
78.6
78.2
77.6
76.6
79.4
na not available
(a) See Glossary for definitions of terms used.
(b) Care should be taken in interpreting Victorian data from 2012 and 2013 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 2014, there were 46,498 divorces granted in Australia, a decrease of 1,140 (2.4%) from the 47,638 divorces granted in 2013.

The crude divorce rate for the number of divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population was 2.0 in 2014, a decrease from 2.1 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population reported for 2013.

The median age of males and females at divorce was 45.2 and 42.5 years respectively in 2014. Median age at divorce in 2014 has increased by 0.4 years for males and 0.3 years for females from 2013.

In 2014, divorces involving children represented 47.0% of all divorces granted compared with 47.4% in 2013. The number of children involved in divorces totalled 40,152 in 2014, a decrease from the 41,747 reported in 2013. The average number of children per divorce involving children in 2014 was 1.8.

The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2014 was 12.0 years, a slight decrease from that reported in 2013. This number has been decreasing 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 2014 to the point where joint applicants are the highest applicant type for the fifth year in a row, with 19,281 divorces granted from joint applications, compared with 15,127 from female applicants and 12,090 from male applicants.


1.2 SELECTED DIVORCE INDICATORS, Australia, Selected years, 1994-2014
1994
2004
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Divorces grantedno.
48,312
52,747
50,240
48,935
49,917
47,638
46,498
Crude divorce rate(a)rate
2.7
2.6
2.3
2.2
2.2
2.1
2.0
Median length of marriage
To separationyears
7.6
8.7
8.8
8.7
8.6
8.5
8.4
To divorceyears
10.9
12.3
12.3
12.2
12.2
12.1
12.0
Divorces involving children(b)
Divorcesno.
25,316
26,289
24,853
23,619
24,144
22,590
21,840
Proportion of all divorces%
52.4
49.8
49.5
48.3
48.4
47.4
47.0
Total number of childrenno.
47,537
49,260
46,337
43,867
44,834
41,747
40,152
Average number of children per divorce(c)no.
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.8
1.8
Relative birthplace of people granted divorce(d)
Both born in Australiano.
27,090
30,729
26,305
24,890
25,301
24,385
23,565
Both born in same overseas countryno.
6,056
6,904
8,064
8,455
8,623
8,180
8,091
Born in different countriesno.
3,283
14,375
13,553
13,194
13,517
12,904
12,746
Type of applicant(e)
Maleno.
17,350
16,365
13,215
12,924
12,958
12,329
12,090
Femaleno.
23,739
21,614
18,083
17,439
17,140
15,684
15,127
Jointno.
7,223
14,768
18,941
18,572
19,819
19,625
19,281
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.