Divorces dropping, marriages increasing, spouses stay married for longer
30 January 2025
By Alex Mondia
As 2025 gets underway and we look to set our goals for the coming year, it’s good time to reflect on the previous year to see if it provides any indicators of what might lie ahead.
As family lawyers, it is particularly interesting to consider the changes in dynamics of families and relationships across WA and the country.
The WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and Australian Bureau of Statistics track data which provides some insight into these changes.
Hot off the press (released 2 January 2025), the 2024 WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages data contained some notable updates.
WA marriages continue to rise, from a low of 9,565 in 2020 (unsurprising given the effects of COVID-19 and associated restrictions) to 13,123 in 2023 and 13,367 in 2024 – more than ever before.
Perhaps associated with the increased number of marriages, the number of people changing their name has also increased during that period, from 4,056 in 2020 to 4,305 in 2024.
For those who think divorce rates are on the rise in recent years, they’re wrong!
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data outlines Australia-wide divorces continued to fall in 2023 (although we won’t have updated figures for 2024 until the middle of the year), from as high as 49,510 in 2020 to 49,241 in 2022 and 48,700 in 2023.
For those who got divorced, median ages were 47.1 for males and 44.1 for females.
People are also staying married longer even when they divorce, with the median duration of marriages that end in divorce increasing to 13 years.
Disclaimer
This article is not legal advice and the views and comments are of a general nature only. This article is not to be relied upon in substitution for detailed legal advice.
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