STATE AND TERRITORY DATA

Marriage statistics in this publication are presented by the State or Territory where the marriage was registered, rather than the State of usual residence of the couple. For this reason, the ABS advises caution in the interpretation of data at a State or Territory level as couples may choose to marry outside their State or Territory of usual residence. Refer to Explanatory Notes 24-25 for more information.

1.13 Number of marriages, by jurisdiction(a), Selected years, 1989-2009
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
1989	41 300	30 624	19 088	9 776	10 739	3 111	778	1 760	117 176
1999	41 016	27 252	22 416	8 237	10 197	2 499	885	1 814	114 316
2005	35 927	25 266	24 303	7 630	11 124	2 644	774	1 655	109 323
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
(a) Care should be taken in interpreting these figures as marriage data is by state of registration rather than usual residence. See Explanatory Notes 24-25 for further information.

In 2009, the greatest increases in the number of marriages registered were in New South Wales (up by 1,379, 3.5%) and Victoria (up by 661, 2.4%). The largest decreases were in Queensland (down by 461, or 1.7%) and Western Australia (down by 183, or 1.5%).

Queensland recorded the highest crude marriage rate in 2009 (6.0 marriages per 1,000 estimated population), whilst the Northern Territory had the lowest crude marriage rate, with 4.1 marriages per 1,000 estimated population.

Marriages performed by ministers of religion as a proportion of all marriages in 2009 were highest in the Australian Capital Territory (37.4%) and lowest in the Northern Territory (26.0%).

In 2009, the proportion of marriages where couples lived together prior to marriage was lowest in New South Wales (69.8%) and highest in Tasmania (85.5%).

1.14 Selected marriage indicators(a), States and Territories of registration(b) - 2009
				NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Marriages registered			no.	40 516	27 750	26 342	8 208	12 184	2 637	919	1 562	120 118
Crude marriage rate(c)				5.7	5.1	6.0	5.1	5.4	5.2	4.1	4.4	5.5
Median age at marriage
	Males		years	31.3	31.4	31.8	31.8	32.2	32.9	33.3	31.2	31.5
	Females		years	28.8	29.3	29.4	29.3	29.6	30.2	30.5	29.1	29.2
Previous marital status
	First marriage both partners		no.	29 345	20 205	17 817	5 696	8 347	1 675	605	1 090	84 780
	First marriage one partner		no.	6 553	4 401	4 697	1 377	2 122	494	200	263	20 107
	Remarriage both partners		no.	4 618	3 144	3 828	1 135	1 715	468	114	209	15 231
Marriage Celebrants
	Ministers of religion(d)
		Number of marriages	no.	15 077	9 319	7 351	2 883	3 543	744	239	584	39 740
		Proportion of marriages	%	37.2	33.6	27.9	35.1	29.1	28.2	26.0	37.4	33.1
	Civil celebrants
		Number of marriages	no.	25 419	18 421	18 987	5 325	8 639	1 892	679	978	80 340
		Proportion of marriages	%	62.7	66.4	72.1	64.9	70.9	71.7	73.9	62.6	66.9
Relative birthplace of male and female(e)
	Both born in Australia		no.	21 992	15 821	16 551	5 548	6 117	2 039	577	998	69 643
	Both born in the same overseas country		no.	6 324	3 902	2 006	556	1 202	66	48	106	14 210
	Born in different countries		no.	12 188	8 011	7 783	2 104	4 818	529	294	458	36 185
Couples living together prior to marriage
	Number of marriages		no.	28 286	21 355	22 317	6 631	10 078	2 255	777	1 279	92 978
	Proportion of marriages		%	69.8	77.0	84.7	80.8	82.7	85.5	84.5	81.9	77.4
(a) See Glossary for definitions of terms used.
(b) By state or territory where marriage is registered. See Explanatory Note 24-25 for further details.
(c) Marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. See Explanatory Note 33 and 39-41 for further information.
(d) Excludes marriages where the rite is not stated. 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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