Australia’s divorce rate is lowest in 50 years and marriages are lasting longer, according to ABS data

While fewer people are getting married, marriages are both lasting longer and less likely to end in divorce, new figures show. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Divorce rates are their lowest in 50 years and marriages are lasting longer, according to new data that reflects an increasingly selective approach to marriage and the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 marriages and divorces figures, released on Wednesday, reflect a downward trajectory of both marriage and divorce rates over the past two decades.