Marriages are increasingly becoming less common in South Africa. According to the Marriages and Divorce, 2020 report published by Statistics South Africa, the total number of people getting married has decreased gradually from 2011 to 2020. Other than the high drop in 2020 that may have ensued from the restrictions on gatherings in that year, the number of civil marriages have been continuously decreasing. Civil marriages fell by 22,5% between 2011 and 2019 and decreased by a further 31,1% in 2020.
The proportion of people who are getting married is going down in many countries across the world.
Over the past few decades, family formation patterns have changed considerably in the U.S., with long-run rises in non-marital births, cohabitation, and single parenthood – though in recent years some of these trends have leveled out. Since the start of the 21st century, the U.S. marriage rate has decreased. Since 1972, marriage rates in the US have dropped by nearly 50%, and are presently at the lowest point in re corded history.
70 years ago a vast majority of U.S. households, around 80 percent, were made up of married couples. In 2020, the percentage of households composed of married couples fell to 49%. The Pew Research Center published an analysis of census data showing that in 2019 the percentage of American adults who were not married nor living with a partner had grown to 38%, and although that group includes some adults who were formerly married (those who are separated, divorced or widowed), all of the growth in the unpartnered population since 1990 has come from a increase in the number who have never been married.
The pattern looks the same in other countries. The UK and Australia, for instance, have also seen marriage rates decreasing for many years, and are presently at the lowest point in recorded history. Available estimates from Latin America, Africa and Asia indicates that the decrease of marriages is not unique to wealthy countries. Over the period 1990 – 2010 there was a decrease in marriage rates in the vast majority of countries around the world.
Customary marriages in South Africa also decreased. In 2020, 1 585 customary marriages were registered at the Department of Home Affairs, showing a decline of 43,2% from the 2 789 customary marriages registered in 2019. From 2011 to 2019, these marriages decreased by 45,1%.
While recognition of same-sex marriages has enhanced the number of marriages, this increase has not been enough to reverse the decreasing trend. In general, the number of civil unions registered in South Africa increased between 2016 and 2019. In 2020, nevertheless, the number of civil unions registered had fallen by 16,9% from 1 771 in 2019 to 1 471 in 2020. Most civil unions were registered in Gauteng (659) and Western Cape (434), and the lowest were in Northern Cape (6) and Limpopo (5).
For those that have made the decision to get married, the report demonstrates that they are choosing to wait until they’re older to tie the knot.
For civil marriages in South Africa, the average age of bridegrooms increased from 36 years in 2016 to 37 years in 2020, while that of brides increased from 32 years to 33 years over the exact same period. The median age difference between brides and bridegrooms were 4 years. For civil unions over the five-year period, the annual differences in the average ages of spouse-1 and spouse-2 varied between two and three years. The average ages of spouse-1 fluctuated between 35 years and 36 years over the five years period 2016 to 2020, while the average ages of spouse-2 fluctuated between 33 years and 34 years over the same period. Customary marriages nonetheless, revealed a different trend than civil marriages and civil unions. The normal age gap were much larger for traditional marriages, where the age difference between brides and bridegrooms was about six years. The average age of bridegrooms fluctuated between 33 years and 36 years whereas that of bride fluctuated between 27 years and 30 years.
While marriages are decreasing, so too are divorces. It is possible that some of the decline in divorces might stem from the fact that less people are getting married.
Divorces decreased by 32,1% from 23 710 in 2019 to 16 097 cases granted in 2020. The average age at the time of divorce in 2020 was 45 years for males and 41 years for females, suggesting that, commonly, divorced males were older than divorced females, with a difference of about four years. The peak age group of male divorcees was between 45 to 49 years at 18,2%, while the female divorcees at the age group 35 to 39 years were higher, with 20,8%.
One may argue, that for better or worse, marriage as the prevailing ideal is losing its grip and the stigma of being unmarried is also losing its grip. It would seem that South Africans perceptions about marriage persist to evolve. These developments are consistent with changes accross the globe. Attitudes on a range of moral values issues, have moved in a less traditional direction during the past two decades. People now seem to view sex between an unmarried man and woman, same-sex relations, and having a baby outside of marriage as being morally acceptable.
Compiled by Bertus Preller Divorce and Family Law attorney at Maurice Phillips Wisenberg in Cape Town. To read more about Family Law, read here.