E6K+table+monica

MONICA This table looks at marriage statistics in Australia in the years 1981 and 2002. Overall, there are upward trends in all figures except the number of registered marriages.

In 1981, 113,905 marriages were registered in Australia, which went down to 105,400 in 2002. In contrast to this fall, there were three marked rises. Firstly, the average ages of brides and grooms saw significant growth, by 5.7 and 5.1 years respectively. Secondly, the number of divorces had climbed by around 14,000 in 2002. Thirdly, more and more Australians chose to cohabit before marriage, which sharply increased from 42% to 73%.

These trends could have been caused by some factors. The decrease of registered marriages may have been due to people paying more attention to their education and career. Women were more independent than in the past, which probaly resulted in the increasing age of marriage. The role of women in society underwent a vital change and it might have been the reason for more divorces in 2002. Defacto relationships had become more socially acceptable; consequently, more couples lived together before marriage in 2002.