MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES, AUSTRALIA

The Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2017 (cat. no. 3310.0) publication provides data and information about marriages registered and divorces granted in Australia in 2017. Information is presented on a state or territory of registration basis rather than a state or territory of usual residence basis. See Explanatory Notes 32 for further information.

Marriage statistics presented in this publication provide statistics at state, territory and national levels regarding 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.

Ideally, for compiling annual time series, the number of marriages should be recorded and reported as those which occurred within a given reference period, such as a calendar year. However, there can be lags in the registration of marriages with the state or territory registries and so not all marriages are registered in the year that they occur.

A Year of Occurrence data cube has been included for 2017, showing the year marriages were celebrated (the date of occurrence). With exception to the statistics published in this Year of Occurrence data cube, all marriages referred to in this publication relate to the number of marriages registered, not those which actually occurred, in the years shown.

Divorce statistics in this publication provide state, territory and national level data regarding 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.

Detailed marriage and divorce tables are available in data cubes which can be accessed through the 'Downloads' tab at the top of this page. Explanatory notes, abbreviations and a glossary of terms can be accessed through the 'Explanatory Notes' tab.

This product replaces both Marriages, Australia (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001) and Divorces, Australia (cat. no. 3307.0.55.001) from 2008 onwards. Marriage data between 2003 and 2007 can be found in the electronic product Marriages, Australia (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001) and divorce data between 2002 and 2007 can be found in the electronic product Divorces, Australia (cat. no. 3307.0.55.001).


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