Number of new marriages continues to decline in NZ

Stats NZ data shows that new marriages and civil unions totalled 18,033 last year, a 4 per cent drop from 2023 and a 10 per cent drop over the decade. Meanwhile, the divorce rate, which is 7.5 per 1000 people, is closer to the general marriage rate, at 8.02 per 1000 people, than ever before.

Stats NZ insights analyst Rebekah Hennessey said while the number of new marriages is falling, marriages are lasting for longer.

‘‘For marriages in the last 10 to 15 years, around 5 per cent are divorcing within five years. If you look at a decade ago, it was 8 per cent, so that’s a reasonable drop,” she said.

‘‘In the longer term, around a third of marriages are ending within 25 years. . . . I suspect that will likely go down in the future.’’

But since its peak in 1971 (45.49 per cent), traditional marriage numbers have plummeted.

‘‘We can see that in the data, because there’s a higher number of de facto relationships than a decade ago. More recently, half of babies are born to unmarried parents,” Ms Hennesey said. ‘‘So there’s not that social pressure to have to get married.”

Ms Hennessey said the decision to get married had begun to revolve more and more around costs.

‘‘It’s likely that the financial side is certainly playing a part . . . The costs add up quickly.’’

Stats NZ figures showed that while the number of new marriages and civil unions is falling, the number of same-sex unions has grown by 4 per cent, at 729 in 2024, surpassing pre-Covid levels.

In 2024, 30.9 per cent of same-sex unions were between overseas residents who travelled to New Zealand to get legally married. Same-sex marriage was legalised in New Zealand in 2013.

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Same-sex marriages up as overall figures fall (By Kaya Selby/Radio New Zealand)