STATE AND TERRITORY DATA

In 2010, the greatest increases in the number of marriages registered were in Western Australia (up by 500, 4.1%) and Victoria (up by 392, 1.4%). The only decreases in the number of marriages were in New South Wales (down by 145, or 0.4%) and Tasmania (down by 60, or 2.3%).

1.13 Number of marriages, by Jurisdiction(a), Selected years - 1990-2010
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
1990	41 450	30 120	19 671	9 609	10 613	3 026	740	1 730	116 959
2000	39 323	26 852	22 842	8 227	11 000	2 589	861	1 735	113 429
2006	38 071	26 564	25 043	7 841	11 602	2 664	799	1 638	114 222
2007	37 982	26 967	25 808	8 095	12 290	2 791	779	1 610	116 322
2008	39 137	27 089	26 803	8 046	12 367	2 685	955	1 674	118 756
2009	40 516	27 750	26 342	8 208	12 184	2 637	919	1 562	120 118
2010	40 371	28 142	26 530	8 323	12 684	2 577	954	1 595	121 176
(a) Marriages are presented by the state or territory where the marriage was registered, rather than the state of usual residence of the applicants. The ABS advises caution in the interpretation and comparison of data at a state or territory level. See Explanatory Notes 24-25 for more information.

Queensland recorded the highest crude marriage rate in 2010 (5.9 marriages per 1,000 estimated population), whilst the Northern Territory had the lowest crude marriage rate, with 4.2 marriages per 1,000 population.

Marriages performed by ministers of religion as a proportion of all marriages in 2010 were highest in the Australian Capital Territory (35.5%) and lowest in the Northern Territory (22.0%).

In 2010, the proportion of marriages where couples lived together prior to marriage was lowest in New South Wales (72.1%) and highest in Queensland (86.5%).

1.14 Selected marriage indicators(a), States and Territories of registration(b) - 2010
				NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Marriages registered			no.	40 371	28 142	26 530	8 323	12 684	2 577	954	1 595	121 176
Crude marriage rate(c)			rate	5.6	5.1	5.9	5.1	5.5	5.1	4.2	4.4	5.4
Median age at first marriage
	Males		no.	31.1	31.3	31.7	31.6	32.0	32.7	34.1	30.9	31.4
	Females		no.	29.0	29.3	29.4	29.3	29.5	30.3	30.7	28.9	29.2
Previous marital status
	First marriage both partners		no.	29 345	20 613	18 238	5 811	8 819	1 701	635	1 168	86 330
	First marriage one partner		no.	6 584	4 494	4 665	1 338	2 187	444	174	242	20 128
	Remarriage both partners		no.	4 442	3 035	3 627	1 174	1 678	432	145	185	14 718
Marriage celebrants(d)
	Ministers of religion
		Number of marriages	no.	14 106	8 866	6 652	2 732	3 427	691	210	567	37 251
		Proportion of marriages	%	34.9	31.5	25.1	32.8	27.0	26.8	22.0	35.5	30.7
	Civil celebrants
		Number of marriages	no.	26 232	19 242	19 855	5 591	9 233	1 876	744	1 027	83 800
		Proportion of marriages	%	65.0	68.4	74.8	67.2	72.8	72.8	78.0	64.4	69.2
Relative birthplace of male and female(e)
	Both born in Australia		no.	21 337	15 553	16 383	5 526	6 256	1 995	559	979	68 588
	Both born in the same overseas country		no.	6 161	4 074	2 116	654	1 305	62	65	148	14 585
	Born in different countries		no.	12 852	8 508	8 022	2 143	5 083	520	329	468	37 925
Cohabitation prior to marriage
	Number of marriages		no.	29 094	21 578	22 949	6 778	10 462	2 226	794	1 313	95 194
	Proportion of marriages		%	72.1	76.7	86.5	81.4	82.5	86.4	83.2	82.3	78.6
(a) See Glossary for definitions of terms used.
(b) By state and territory where marriage is registered. See Explanatory Note 24-25 for further details.
(c) Marriages per 1,000 of estimated resident population at 30 June. See Glossary and explanatory Notes 39 and 46 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, 1996 (ASCRG, cat 1266.0).
(e) Excludes marriages where country of birth of one or both partners is not stated.

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