IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

A total of 138 627, civil marriages, 3 467 customary marriages and 1 185 civil unions were registered in 2015. A comparison with the 2014 data shows that registration of civil marriages dropped by 8,1% but that of customary marriages and civil unions increased by 13,2% and 3,6% respectively.

The median age of first time civil marriage bridegrooms increased by a year from 33 years in 2014 to 34 years in 2015, while the median age for brides has remained unchanged at 30 years. For all customary marriages, the median age for bridegrooms remained the same at 34 years but there was a decrease of one year from 29 years in 2014 to 28 years in 2015 for brides. Regarding all civil unions, the median age for Spouse-1 remained at 36 years whereas that of Spouse-2 increased by a year from 33 years in 2014 to 34 years in 2015.

In 2015, 25 260 completed divorce forms were processed indicating an increase of 2,3% from the 24 689 processed in 2014. There were more female than male plaintiffs. The median ages at divorce in 2015 were 44 years for men and 40 years for women. About 45,4% of the 2015 divorces came from marriages that did not spend their tenth wedding anniversary. In 2015, there were 14 045 (55,6%) divorces with children aged less than 18 years affected.