FED: More Aussies getting married, but divorce also rising

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-1999
FED: More Aussies getting married, but divorce also rising

New figures show marriage appears to be coming back into vogue, but so is divorce.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says more Australians are getting married after 30,
living together before they tie the knot, and moving back with parents after separation.

Its survey found 110,600 registered marriages in 1998 - the largest number recorded since
1994, although this was more five per cent lower than 1988.

The study also shows divorce rates have increased by a quarter during the same decade,
although the 1998 divorce rate was slightly lower than the record figure two years earlier.

Both men and women are marrying older - with the average man getting married just under the
age of 30 while women marry at just under the age of 28, both older than the previous decade.

The survey noted a rise in couples living together before marriage in the past two decades,
with two thirds of couples living together first in 1998 compared with 22 per cent in 1978.

AAP RTV ear/mfh/pjg/jn

KEYWORD: MARRIAGE (CANBERRA)

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