Get me to The Beach on Time

Marriage is on the increase - there were 111,000 marriages in Australia in 2004 compared to 106,400 in 2003, 105,435 in 2002 and 103,130 in 2001. The 2004 marriage data was released yesterday by the ABS. In a trend commencing in 1999, the majority of marriages in 2004 (59%) were performed by a celebrant rather than a minister of religion. So instead of 'get me to the church on time', prospective bride's fathers have to get their daughters to the beach, backyard, hilltop or wherever.

Only 67% of marriages are first time marriages for husband and wife. In 75% of marriages, co-habitation has preceded marriage. We are also a well integrated society with 29% of marriage partners being born in different countries to one another.

Median age of brides was 29.2 overall, with first marriage 27.5, divorcees 40.9 and widows 55.4. For the grooms, median ages were 31.5 overall, 29.4 for first marriages, 44.3 for divorcees, 62.8 for widowers. Widower men choose younger brides (7.4 years younger) than other grooms while widowed brides take longer to remarry (6.7 years) than widower men (4.4 years). For divorced bride and groom the waiting time is shorter at 3.7 years for men and 4.2 years for women. Widower men remarry more promptly than widowed women. We have added charts which illustrate this to Misceallaneous charts in Research Centre.

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