Why are less people getting married?
Only 78,989 marriages were registered in Australia in 2020, a 30.6 per cent decrease compared with 2019, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Director of Health and Vital Statistics, James Eynstone-Hinkins, said 2020 saw the largest annual decrease in registered marriages ever reported by the ABS, and the lowest number of registrations reported since 1961.
“Marriage numbers fell in late March as lockdowns, restrictions on gatherings and travel bans impacted marriage plans, with numbers then remaining low throughout winter and spring.
“All states and territories recorded a decrease in marriage numbers in 2020. The largest decrease was for Victoria at 41.9 per cent with the state also experiencing the longest period of COVID-19 restrictions, while marriage numbers in the Australian Capital Territory decreased the least at just 12.7 per cent.”
While total numbers of marriages were well down, nearly 80,000 couples still managed to tie the knot, with a couple of key dates proving popular.
“Saturday 10 October 2020 (10/10) was the most common day for a wedding in 2020 with 2191 weddings celebrated,” Mr Eynstone-Hinkins said.
“A further 1517 couples took the opportunity to get married on the leap year day of Saturday 29 February, the fifth most common day to marry in 2020 and one which is sure to save those couples on future anniversary gifts.”
The divorce rate remained stable in 2020 at 1.9 divorces per 1000 people with only a small increase in numbers (49,510 compared with 48,582 in 2019).
Divorces are only reported once finalised after a period of separation of at least one year, so any changes to the divorce rate that might be related to the pandemic will only be seen in future years.
Do you think young people are less inclined to get married these days, or is COVID solely to blame for this dip in numbers?
By the time they have married off the fur babies, there's no money left for their weddings LOL
Perhaps the humans are learning from the birds ???
Or is it the other way around ???
Or is it caused by less religious brainwashing ???
This is a question that has been put into the community for some years like 40 years!
Not sure what the answer is, perhaps people don't want to be locked up in the same relationship for a life time?
Perhaps they don't like the issue with the Family Courts of Australia?
I am aware that if some men don't want to continue supporting their children and wife the Government Federal started new law some years ago, that they can take out money from the parent of a child and hand it to the carer of the child. Before that some people used to be able to get away and not support their children.