IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

A total of 150 852, civil marriages, 3 062 customary marriages and 1 144 civil unions were registered in 2014. A comparison with the 2013 data shows that registration of civil and customary marriages dropped by 4,9% and 12,5% respectively but that of civil unions increased by 15,2%. The median ages of first time civil marriage bridegrooms and brides remained unchanged at 33 years and 30 years respectively between 2013 and 2014. For all customary marriages, the median age for bridegrooms (34 years) and brides (29 years) increased by a year in 2014 from 33 years for bridegrooms and 28 years for brides in 2013. Regarding all civil unions, the median age for Spouse-1 remained at 36 years whereas that of Spouse-2 decreased by a year from 34 years in 2013 to 33 years in 2014. In 2014, 24 689 completed divorce forms were processed indicating an increase of 3,4% from  the 23 885  processed in 2013. There were more female than male plaintiffs. The median age for male divorcees remained the same at 43 years whereas that of female divorcees increased by a year from 39 years in 2013 to 40 years in 2014. About 45,7% of the 2014 divorces came from marriages that did not spend their tenth wedding anniversary. In 2014, there was 13 676 (55,4%) divorces with children aged less than 18 years.