Why people are opting in (and out) of nuptials: Marriage and divorce trends in Australia

Less of us are getting married and when we do, we’re older but there are fewer divorces, too. The Sunday Mail takes a look at the latest snapshot of marriages and divorces in Australia.

Forget the trends, Dominique Caruso and Thomas Morasca are counting down the days until they are married. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Adelaide schoolteacher Dominique Caruso is counting down the days until she says “I do”, unfazed by new statistics showing the nation’s marriage rates are continuing to decline.

The 27-year-old will marry long-time beau Thomas Morasca, 26, in February and her only pre-wedding jitter is around COVID-19, hoping restrictions will have eased in early 2021 to allow 200 guests to share in their special day.

“I am terribly nervous … we are just trying to stay really positive about it and hope for the best really,” Ms Caruso said. “We are ready to go – we are just ready to get married.”

Not everyone feels the same. Figures released on Friday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show marriage rates are on the decline – and have been for the past 20 years with some experts tipping a steeper dip post COVID-19.

In 2019, there were 113,815 marriages registered nationally, down from 119,188 in 2018.

The number of people tying the knot each year has dropped from 6 per 1000 people in 1999, to 4.5 per 1000 in 2019, according to the ABS figures, released annually to show the previous year’s marriage and divorce trends. In 2019, South Australia recorded the greatest proportional decrease, down by 8 per cent – or 616 marriages – on 2018.

There were 616 fewer marriages in South Australia in 2019, compared to 2018. Picture: iStock

Professor in psychology at Flinders University, Damien Riggs, said it could be people were increasingly feeling there was nothing to be gained, emotionally or financially, by getting married while there was also less stigma today towards non-married couples.

UniSA’s associate professor Dale Bagshaw agreed the reasons behind the decline were multifaceted, ranging from a greater focus on career development, to financial concerns and a decline in face-to-face connection due to the smartphone era. “I also think there is a lot of uncertainty and a lot of young people are very anxious about the state of the world, worried about things such as climate change … a lot are even thinking twice now about whether they want to bring a child into the world,” she said.

Flinders University’s expert in population studies, Associate Professor Gour Dasvarma, tipped the pandemic could further drop the marriage rate, as young people remained longer in the family home due to economic and job uncertainty.

However the downward trend doesn’t signify love – and marriage – is on its way out any time soon, according to UniSA’s senior lecturer in social work, Priscilla Dunk-West.

“The fact that people still choose to marry demonstrates the enduring institution of marriage … I would expect to see a continued decline in marriage with new forms of relationship patterns emerging,” Dr Dunk-West said.

Australian Institute of Family Studies senior researcher Lixia Qu said while less people were marrying, more were co-habitating. “(But) despite the rise in cohabitation, it has not been enough to compensate the fall in marriages,” she said, pointing to Census data across recent decades that consistently showed a decline in the number of people living with a partner in all age groups under 65.

However, the good news is divorce rates are also on the decline, dropping from 49,404 in 2018 to 49,116 in 2019.

The 2019 figure represents a crude divorce rate of 1.9 divorces per 1000 people which is significantly lower than 1999 when 2.8 divorces were granted per 1000 people.

Divorce in 2020: What’s changed?

AS well as impacting on the number of people marrying in 2020, COVID-19 has effected divorce and separation trends, according to local lawyers.

Marriage data released by the ABS on Friday showed just 38,000 marriages occurred between January and June this year, compared to an average of 55,000 for the same time period the past five years.

Director of Resolve Divorce Rose Cocchiaro said in Adelaide the pandemic coincided with a “spike in new client inquiries from around April to August”. “(We also saw) our existing clients wanting things resolved sooner … the recent three-day lockdown created a bit of panic (as) clients are wanting things wrapped up sooner because of the uncertainty around whether there will be a second wave of COVID in SA,” she said.

Ms Cocchiaro said the uncertainty had shifted focus.

“The treatment of money people have withdrawn from their superannuation funds under the new Government COVID early release of super scheme is (one) issue we have started to see more frequently in property settlement negotiations,” Ms Cocchiaro said.

She said firms such hers – which now had a wellbeing program and “divorce coach” – were driving change on how divorce was managed, offering modern, collaborative and creative approaches to resolving disputes in “out-of-court round table negotiation”.

Solicitor Vanessa Camerlengo said the aim was to find what best suited each party.

“We have negotiated deals outside the range of legal outcomes … we’ve had couples decide to continue to live together despite their divorce and property settlement adjustment, just because it is easier for their lives not to move out and more stability for their children,” she said.

Director of Resolve Divorce Rose Cocchiaro said her firm now had both a wellbeing program and a divorce coach. Picture: supplied

Resolve Divorce solicitor Vanessa Camerlengo said the priority was negotiating what was best for both parties. Picture: supplied