Australia’s divorce rate is lowest in 50 years and marriages are lasting longer
9952 Mins Read
Divorce rates are their lowest in 50 years and marriages are lasting longer, according to new data that reflects an increasingly selective approach to marriage and the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 marriages and divorces figures, released on Wednesday, reflect a downward trajectory of both marriage and divorce rates over the past two decades.
But within the data lies a case for the institution of marriage: while fewer people were getting married, marriages were both lasting longer and less likely to end in divorce.
In 2004, the marriage rate – measured per 1,000 residents over the age of 16 – was 7.1. Twenty years later, in 2024, the rate was 5.5, the same as the year before.
Last year, Australia’s divorce rate was 2.1, down from 2.3 in 2023. The number of divorces fell 3% from 2023 to 2024.
Meanwhile, marriages lasted for a median of 13.2 years – up from 12.1 in 2020 and 13 last year.
The statistics align with an Australian Institute of Family Studies report that in February found the divorce rate had in 2023 fallen to its lowest level since the implementation of the 1975 Family Law Act.
At the same time, we’re marrying and getting divorced later in life. In 2024, the median marriage age was 32.8 years for men and 31.2 for women, according to the ABS. The median age for men to divorce was 47.1 years, while for women it was 44.1.
And, while younger couples were divorcing less, divorces in the above 60 age category were rising.
There were 2% more marriages in 2024 compared to the year before – a figure that doubled to 4.1% for couples of the same or non-binary gender.
More same-sex female couples were married and divorced than male couples, while same-sex and non-binary divorces were slightly up from 1.4% of all divorces in 2023 to 1.6% in 2024.
Steep declines then a spike in marriage rates from 2020 to 2022 were a direct impact of Covid restrictions, while the pandemic saw a spike in divorce rates in 2021.
