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 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. Refer to Explanatory Notes 32-37 for more information.

In 2008, divorces granted decreased in Victoria (1.8%), Queensland (4.0%), South Australia (1.9%), Western Australia (4.3%) and the Northern Territory (12.0%) compared with 2007. New South Wales, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory recorded an increase in divorces granted (1.4%, 2.4% and 1.4% respectively). Overall, more divorces were granted by courts in New South Wales (13,914) than any other state. Victorian courts granted 11,623 divorces and Queensland courts granted 10,615 divorces.

Number of divorces, by jurisdiction, Selected years, 1989-2008
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
1989	12 743	10 253	7 123	3 740	4 089	1 269	262	1 346	41 383
1999	15 470	12 742	11 467	4 301	5 301	1 391	409	1 485	52 566
2004	15 007	12 544	13 279	4 147	4 337	1 404	434	1 595	52 747
2005	15 172	12 512	12 383	3 669	5 265	1 346	470	1 582	52 399
2006	14 482	12 110	12 175	3 913	5 544	1 233	426	1 491	51 375
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

The following table provides a summary of selected indicators of divorce granted in 2008 by the state and territory where the court granting divorce was located.

The highest crude divorce rate was recorded for Queensland, with 2.5 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population. Tasmania and South Australia were the jurisdictions with the highest proportion of all divorces which involved children (51.9% and 51.4% respectively). The highest median age at divorce for males was recorded in the Northern Territory (45.8 years), whilst the highest median age for females was recorded in Tasmania (42.8 years). Median length of marriage at divorce was highest in Tasmania and Western Australia, at 14.3 years and 13.8 years respectively. Consistent with the Australia level trend towards an increase in joint applications for divorce in 2008, Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory all recorded numbers of joint applications for divorce that exceeded male and female only applications.

Selected divorce indicators, States and territories(a) - 2008
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT(b)	Aust.(c)
Divorces granted (no.)		13 914	11 623	10 615	3 466	4 718	1 154	367	1 351	47 209
Crude divorce rate(d)		2.0	2.2	2.5	2.2	2.2	2.3	1.7	np	2.2
Divorces involving children - Proportion of all divorces(e) (%)		47.0	48.5	51.2	51.4	47.3	51.9	40.9	48.2	48.8
Average number of children per divorce(f) (no.)		1.8	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.9	2.0	1.8	1.9	1.9
Median age at divorce
	Males (years)	43.1	43.9	44.6	44.7	45.5	45.5	45.8	44.9	44.1
	Females (years)	40.2	41.3	41.7	42.2	42.7	42.8	41.6	42.4	41.4
Median length of marriage
	To separation (years)	7.7	8.9	9.1	9.7	9.7	10.9	7.4	9.8	8.8
	To divorce (years)	10.9	12.4	12.8	13.4	13.8	14.3	12.3	13.3	12.3
Applicant(g)
	Male (no.)	3 858	3 370	2 783	931	1 245	328	98	366	12 979
	Female (no.)	5 183	4 625	3 850	1 454	1 464	492	115	434	17 617
	Joint (no.)	4 873	3 628	3 982	1 081	2 009	334	154	551	16 613
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Divorces are presented by the state/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/territory. See Explanatory Notes 32-37 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 Australian Capital Territory courts. See Explanatory Note 34 for more information.
(c) The total may be greater than the sum of its components as it includes divorces granted where the state/territory of registration was not available.
(d) Per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. See Glossary and Explanatory Notes 39 and 46 for more information.
(e) Unmarried children of the marriage who were aged under 18 years 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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