South African marriages hit a low in 2015
Stats SA’s latest release paints a detailed picture of the state of marriage and divorce in SA — including that more religious than civil marriages ended in divorce
There were 138,267 civil marriages recorded in 2015‚ a decrease of 8.1% from 2014‚ Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday.The marriages and divorces statistical release for 2015 found that the highest number of marriages was recorded in 2008, at 186,522, and the lowest number was seen in 2015.The majority of the marriages in 2015 for both bridegrooms and brides were first-time marriages.Among bridegrooms‚ there were 113,891 bachelors (82.2%)‚ 5,034 divorcees (3.6%) and 1,439 widowers (1%). Among brides‚ 120,274 were marrying for the first time (86.8%), while 3,317 were divorcees (2.4%) and 1,173 were widows (0.8%).Despite the fact that men tend to marry younger women‚ data indicated that 21,607 or 15.6% of bridegrooms in 2015 were younger than their brides‚ while 10,751 (or 7.8%) were the same age as their brides. The median ages for first-time marriages were 34 years for men and 30 years for women in 2015.However‚ Stats SA said 1,690 men and 568 women over the age of ...
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