Fed: Marriage declining further as more opt for single life

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2001
Fed: Marriage declining further as more opt for single life

CANBERRA, Aug 23 AAP - The sacred institution of wedlock has declined even further
with more and more people opting for a single life.

However, Australians are still more enamoured of marriage than those in the United
Kingdom or New Zealand, but less so than the United States.

Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show marriage continues
its long-term decline with 113,400 marriages registered in 2,000, a decrease of 3,500
on 1990.

More significantly, the rate of marriage has declined noticeably, from 43 per 1,000
unmarried population in 1990 to 33 per 1,000 last year.

ABS figures show a fluctuating divorce rate, ranging from 11 to 13 per 1,000 over the
period 1990-2000. A total of 49,900 divorces were granted in 2000.

The figures point to an ongoing change in the composition of the population with a
decline in the proportion of those never married.

In 1900, 52 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women never married while 43 per cent
of men and 50 per cent of women had married.

A century later, 35 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women had never married while
55 per cent of men and 54 per cent of women had married.

Internationally, Americans are more inclined towards wedlock with a rate of 8.9 per
100,000 in 1997, compared with 5.9 in Australia but 5.4 in the United Kingdom and 5.3
in New Zealand.

The trend towards getting married older continued in 2000.

Median marriage age for men was 30, up from 26 in 1980, and 28 for women, up from 23 in 1980.

With people marrying older, it followed that they were also divorcing older.

The ABS said the median age for divorce was 41 for men (up from 35 in 1980) while for
women in was 39 (up from 33).

AAP mb/daw/de

KEYWORD: MARRIAGE

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.