3310.0 - Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2009

Quality Declaration

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/12/2010

Page tools: Print

Print Page Print all pages in this product

Print All

Contents >> Marriages >> Marriage celebrants

MARRIAGE CELEBRANTS

The proportion of marriages performed by civil celebrants continued to increase in 2009, with 66.9% of marriages performed by civil celebrants. Civil marriages have outnumbered religious ceremonies since 1999 when 51.3% of all marriages were performed by civil celebrants. Of the 39,740 marriages performed by ministers of religion, the most common rites used were Catholic (32.8%) followed by Anglican (17.3%).

1.9 Type of celebrant, Australia, selected years, 1989-2009
Graph: 1.9 Type of celebrant, Australia, selected years, 1989–2009

In 2009, couples who lived together before marrying were more likely to marry in a civil ceremony than those who lived apart, with 73.7% of couples living together married in a civil ceremony, compared with 43.6% of those who lived apart.