2014 Marriage and Divorce Statistics

Some statistics recently released by Stats SA on Marriage and Divorces from 2014.

Total number of Marriages/Unions

• A total of 150 852, civil marriages (down by 4.9% on 2013)
• A total of 3 062 customary marriages (down by 12.5% on 2013)
• A total of 1 144 civil unions (up by 15.2% on 2013)

Median ages of first-time brides and bridegrooms

• The median ages of first time civil marriage bridegrooms and brides remained unchanged at 33 years and 30 years respectively between 2013 and 2014.
• For all customary marriages, the median age for bridegrooms (34 years) and brides (29 years) increased by a year in 2014 from 33 years for bridegrooms and 28 years for brides in 2013.

Divorces

• In 2014, 24 689 completed divorce forms were processed indicating an increase of 3,4% from the 23 885 processed in 2013.
• There were more female than male plaintiffs (meaning they launched the Divorce proceedings at court).
• The median age for male divorcees remained the same at 43 years whereas that of female divorcees increased by a year from 39 years in 2013 to 40 years in 2014.
• About 45,7% of the 2014 divorces came from marriages that did not spend their tenth wedding anniversary.
• In 2014, there was 13 676 (55,4%) divorces with children aged less than 18 years.

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^*Information courtesy Stats SA – Key findings: P0307 – Marriages and Divorces, 2014