Australia’s divorce rate is at its lowest level in half a century according to the latest report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
The study is based off data from the Bureau of Statistics, which has revealed there were 2.3 splits for every thousand marriages in 2023.
In the early 2000s, the divorce rate was significantly higher at 3.4 out of 1000 marriages.
Hear more from today’s headlines, including Australia’s divorce rate, on this episode of The Briefing:
So, what’s changed?
For one thing, Australians are choosing to tie the knot later now.
According to this latest report, the median age for weddings is 30 for women and 31 for men. That’s eight years older than the average in the mid-1970s.
Another factor is that more couples are living together before heading down the aisle.
In 2023, 83% of couples had been living together before marriage, compared to just 16% in 1975.
On top of that, more people are simply choosing not to get married at all.
The marriage rate in 2023 was 5.5 for every thousand adults. In the early 70s Australia, that number was 13 per 1000.
There was a post-Covid boom in weddings, 6.1 per every thousand adults, which was up from 3.8 in 2020.
The stats show Australians are now closer to pre-pandemic levels, which shows a long-term downward trend.
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