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The number of people marrying in New Zealand is falling, says Statistics New Zealand.
It says in 1992 the marriage rate was 18.3 couples per 1000 people eligible to marry. That includes those who formed a civil union from 2005.
This rate dropped to 10.9 couples in 2017.
Statistics New Zealand says the highest number of marriages and civil unions in the last 25 years was in 2008.
In that year, 22,275 couples married.
It says the lowest number was in 2013, when 19,425 tied the knot.
Auckland marriage celebrant, Aaron Bloomfield, says there are two main types of people who marry in New Zealand.
The first is young ones intending to marry and have children by age 30. He says they are over 25 with their lives in order.
The second broad group comprises generation X and Y who live as married couples but without the paperwork.
Generations X and Y describe people born between 1960-1980 and 1980-1990 respectively.
Of the youngsters, he says, “They usually get married the same time as their peers and I often see the same faces at multiple weddings over the same wedding season.”
The older ones from generations X and Y, he says, have already built their family.
“They date for about a year, move in together, purchase a home, trial raising a fur baby together, and one day they realise they’ve got it made and decided to go official.”
Divorce rates fall
The divorce rate has also fallen, according to official statistics.
Statistics NZ measures the divorce rate as the number of divorces per 1,000 existing marriages.
In 2017, 8,001 couples divorced.
That gave a divorce rate of 8.4.
In 1992, 9,114 couples divorced, giving a rate of 11.9.
The decrease in the divorce rate coincides with a fall in the number of children affected by divorce.
The same lower marriage trend is also evident in Britain and Australia.
Source
- NZ Herald
- Statistics New Zealand
- Image: NZ Herald
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