IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

A total of 131 240, civil marriages, 3 160 customary marriages and 1 650 civil unions were registered in 2018. A comparison with the 2017 data show that registration of civil marriages decreased by 3,1% whereas customary marriages and civil unions increased by 22,1% and 21,6% respectively.

The median ages of never married men and women on civil marriages were 35 years and 31 years respectively. The median age of bridegrooms and brides for customary marriages remained the same at 35 years and 29 years respectively as compared to 2017. Regarding all civil unions, the median age for spouses-1 and spouses-2 increased by one year as compared to 2017. Thus, median age for spouses-1 increased from 35 years in 2017 to 36 years in 2018 while median age for spouses-2 increased from 33 years in 2017 to 34 years in 2018.

There were 25 284 completed divorce forms processed in 2018, indicating a decrease of 0,4% from the 25 390 divorces processed in 2017. There were more women 13 218 (52,3%) than men 8 791 (34,8%) divorcees who filed the divorce in 2018. The median ages at divorce in 2018 were 45 years for men and 41 years for women. The results show that four in ten divorces 11 204 (44,3%) of the 25 284 in 2018 came from marriages that did not spend their tenth wedding anniversary. In 2018, there were 14 302 (56,6%)  divorces with children aged less than 18 years affected.