Why are fewer people getting married?

The number of marriages fell by more than 30 per cent in the first six months of 2020, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Provisional data for 2020 showed that around 38,000 marriages occurred between January and June compared to an average of 55,000 over the past five years.

James Eynstone-Hinkins from the ABS said COVID-19 restrictions including social distancing requirements, size limits on gatherings and travel restrictions were all likely to have made couples reconsider their marriage plans.

“Despite the restrictions, nearly 10,000 weddings went ahead between April and June 2020,” Mr Eynstone-Hinkins said.

“Marriages that occurred between April and June 2020 were slightly less likely to be first time marriages and it was less likely that both partners were born in Australia.”

The provisional 2020 data has been released alongside final 2019 marriage and divorce data.

There were 113,815 marriages registered in 2019, a decrease of 4.5 per cent since 2018. Over the past decade the marriage rate has decreased from 5.5 to 4.5 marriages per 1000 people.

These figures show that marriages were on the decline in Australia even before the pandemic hit.

There was also a slight decrease in 2019 in the number of divorces granted (49,116) down from 49,404 in 2018.  Divorce rates have also decreased over a decade from 2.3 to 1.9 divorces per 1000 people.

The data, released as part of Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2019, also showed that the most popular season to marry was spring (32 per cent of all marriages), the most popular month was March and the most popular day was Saturday 19 October, with 1976 couples tying the knot.

Do you think we will see a surge in marriages next year to compensate for those delayed this year? Why do you think less people are getting married in Australia?

10 comments

Because they are wise!

The young ones these days seem to get into a serious relationship in a few days or weeks -- they don't seem to wait to get to know their partner or their ways or friends --

They meet and the next thing they are living together

The simple fact is, there really aren't too many men around and those that are, go for the good looking girls so the uglies get left behind, that’s why we have so many bad tempered older women take out their frustrations  on innocent bystanders.

Chuckle GIFs | Tenor

 

...  a rather "low mentality" response from a supposed "Adult"? 

 

Looks fade personality doesn't

The concept of marriage is somewhat outdated and really stems from the old desire to pass property, and wealth, down to a person of the correct blood stock. The church got involved as an attempt to exercise control over its members.

In this day and age the act of buying a house together is more of a commitment to each other than marriage as it is easier to get a divorce than it is to sort out property ownership disputes. Probably a major reason for the drop in marriage rates is that a child born out of wedlock no longer carries the stigma it used to thankfully as that was never the child's fault or the mother's. 

Too many people get married, and this applies to the past as well as today, for the wrong reasons. Too often it has been about the showcase wedding with a cast bigger than Ben Hur and a cost of mega dollars. The basic commitment to each other for, hopefully, life is often overlooked.

I write this as an on-going survivor of marriage now of 55 years with its ups and downs and we still get along well together in comfortable companionship.

The trouble is most seem to want some big fancy EXPENSIVE wedding -- you can get married with just 2 witnesses -- no need for the expense.

I also think that many times there is more thought put into the WEDDING than the marriage.

Yes the wedding is more important for some than the marriage itself!

Marriage has had to change and progress in the last few decades.  When I married and went into a bank to open up an account in my new name I was told that I needed my husband's written permission before I could do so.  It didn't matter

that I'd run my own business for a number of years and had a bank account in my single name.

 

 

 

That has nothing to do with marriage and everything to do with equality.

The number of marriages fell by more than 30 per cent in the first six months of 2020

With the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions on ceremonies, I'm not surprised. 

I read somewhere, wedding bookings in 2021 to double after coronavirus lockdown.

But the number of weddings is falling year on year (even with same-sex weddings now allowed).

The reasons are probably wide-ranging and would include the fact that there is little if any stigma these days in living together, the couple involved have the same rights as married couples, there is no compulsion to be married for children, you don't have to be married to each other to get a mortgage or take on a joint lease, bank account, credit card etc. And there would be many other reasons too.

Ultimately people just don't see a need to formalise the relationship with a wedding. However, thinking that it may be easier to split up if things don't work out is erroneous as many find out when it happens! With rights comes responsibility, something few seem to appreciate today.

 

 

New proverb:  The bigger the wedding, the shorter the marriage.

Absolutely true. A study in the U.S. determined that the more costly the wedding the earlier the divorce.

Easy come, easy go, no committment.

 

 That blatantly anti-male administration of Family Law in this country is the main reason. Nearly every mature man has a mate who has been robbed of his property and/or kept from his children if he is he is fortunate enough not to have been done over himself.

Their sons have seen what happened to their fathers. Is it any wonder many have no interest in getting married?

10 comments



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