Marriages and divorces, 1999 Report No. 03-07-01 (1999) Published by Statistics South Africa, Private Bag X44, Pretoria 0001 © Statistics South Africa, 2004 Users may apply or process this data, provided Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specifi ed that the application and/or analysis is the result of the user's independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever without prior permission from Stats SA. Stats SA Library Cataloguing -in-Publication (CIP) Data Marriages and divorces, 1999 / Statistics South Africa. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa, 1995 xxvi, 163p. [Report No. 03-07-01(1999)] Annually ISBN 0-621-34427-3 Title continues in English only 1. Vital Statistics I. Statistics South Africa II. Series (LCSH 16) A complete set of Stats SA publications is available at Stats SA Library and the following libraries: National Library of South Africa, Pretoria Division Eastern Cape Library Services, King William's Town National Library of South Africa, Cape Town Division Central Regional Lib rary, Limpopo Library of Parliament, Cape Town Central Reference Library, Nelspruit Bloemfontein Public Library Central Reference Collection, Kimberley Natal Society Library, Pietermaritzburg Central Reference Library, Mmabatho Johannesburg Public Library This report is available on the Stats SA website: www.statssa.gov.za Copies are available from: Printing and Distribution, Statistics South Africa Tel: (012) 310 8619/ 310 8161 Fax: (012) 321 7381 Email: [email protected] i PREFACE 1. This report contains statistics on marriages contracted and divorces granted in 4. As from 1991 the Department of Home Affairs does not collect information on South Africa during 1999, as registered by the civil registration system. population of couples getting married. For divorces, however, information on population group is available. 2. The 1999 report portrays statistics on marriages recorded and recognised by the civil registration system, and therefore those marriages and divorces not 5. As from 1994 information on divorces for all population groups is collected. recognised by civil registration system have not been included. While the Previously only information on divorces for coloured, Indian/Asian and white Marriages Act, 1961 (Act No. 25 of 1961) made provision for the solemnisation was collected. of marriages according to ‘Christian, Jewish or Mohammedan rites or rites of any Indian religion’, in fact only marriages concluded according to Christian and 6. Divorces where the population group of the husband and wife differs, or are Jewish or Hebrew rites had been recognised. In the case of other religions whose unspecified, form part of the contents of the report and are no longer shown as marriage ceremony had not yet been approved at the time, marriages concluded a table in the summary. through the rites of these religions, were not recognised. The summary and explanatory notes of this report discuss in detail the steps that are being taken to 7. Should your copy of this publication have any unacceptable printing or binding align the older (based on the Marriages Act, 1961 (Act No. 25 of 1961), errors, the publication will be exchanged free of charge on receipt of the legislation with the new Constitution of South Africa. unsatisfactory copy. Please return it to the STATS SA's head office, at Private Bag X44, Pretoria, 0001 or 170 Andries Street, Pretoria. 3. In the case of marriages, the statistical information is obtained from the Department of Home Affairs, whilst data on divorces are obtained from the registrars of the various divisions of the Supreme Court. STATISTICIAN-GENERAL: STATISTICS SOUTH AFRICA PRETORIA 2004 STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) ii STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) iii Table TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Summary vii Summary tables xi Graphs xiii Explanatory notes xx 1. HISTORICAL TABLE 1.1 Divorces by population group 1 1.1.1 African 1 1.1.2 Coloured 2 1.1.3 Indian/Asian 3 1.1.4 White 4 1.1.5 Mixed 5 1.1.6 Unspecified 6 2. MARRIAGES 2.1 Provinces by month of solemnisation 7 2.2 Provinces by way of solemnisation 8 2.3 Provinces, magisterial districts and municipalities by way of solemnisation and denomination of officiating minister 9 2.4 Relative marital status at time of marriage by way of solemnisation 37 2.5 Age of bridegroom and bride by marital status at time of marriage 38 2.6 Relative ages of bride and bridegroom 42 2.7 Relative marital status at time of marriage by age of bridegroom 43 2.8 Relative marital status at time of marriage by age of bride 44 2.9 Age difference of bridegroom and bride by marital status at time of marriage 45 STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) iv Table TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3. DIVORCES 3.1 Provinces and population group by month of divorce 49 3.2 Provinces, magisterial districts and municipalities by population group and way of solemnisation 3.2.1 Western Cape 52 3.2.2 Eastern Cape 54 3.2.3 Northern Cape 56 3.2.4 Free State 58 3.2.5 KwaZulu-Natal 60 3.2.6 North West 62 3.2.7 Gauteng 64 3.2.8 Mpumalanga 66 3.2.9 Limpopo 68 3.3 Duration of marriage by age of husband and population group 3.3.1 African 70 3.3.2 Coloured 72 3.3.3 Indian/Asian 74 3.3.4 White 76 3.3.5 Mixed 78 3.3.6 Unspecified 80 3.4 Duration of marriage by age of wife and population group 3.4.1 African 82 3.4.2 Coloured 84 3.4.3 Indian/Asian 86 3.4.4 White 88 3.4.5 Mixed 90 3.4.6 Unspecified 92 STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) v Table TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3.5 Relative ages of plaintiff and defendant by population group 3.5.1 African 94 3.5.2 Coloured 96 3.5.3 Indian/Asian 98 3.5.4 White 100 3.5.5 Mixed 102 3.5.6 Unspecified 104 3.6 Age difference between husband and wife by duration of marriage and population group 3.6.1 African 106 3.6.2 Coloured 108 3.6.3 Indian/Asian 110 3.6.4 White 112 3.6.5 Mixed 114 3.6.6 Unspecified 116 3.7 Number of times married by age of husband and population group 3.7.1 African 118 3.7.2 Coloured 119 3.7.3 Indian/Asian 120 3.7.4 White 121 3.7.5 Mixed 122 3.7.6 Unspecified 123 3.8 Number of times married by age of wife and population group 3.8.1 African 124 3.8.2 Coloured 125 3.8.3 Indian/Asian 126 3.8.4 White 127 3.8.5 Mixed 128 3.8.6 Unspecified 129 STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) vi Table TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3.9 Duration of marriage by number of minor children involved and population group 3.9.1 African 130 3.9.2 Coloured 132 3.9.3 Indian/Asian 134 3.9.4 White 136 3.9.5 Mixed 138 3.9.6 Unspecified 140 3.10 Occupation of husband at time of divorce by duration of marriage and population group 3.10.1 African 142 3.10.2 Coloured 143 3.10.3 Indian/Asian 144 3.10.4 White 145 3.10.5 Mixed 146 3.10.6 Unspecified 147 3.11 Occupation of wife at time of divorce by duration of marriage and population group 3.11.1 African 148 3.11.2 Coloured 149 3.11.3 Indian/Asian 150 3.11.4 White 151 3.11.5 Mixed 152 3.11.6 Unspecified 153 3.12 Occupation of husband and wife at time of divorce by population group 154 3.13 Way of solemnisation by duration of marriage and population group 156 3.14 Relative marital status at time of marriage by way of solemnisation and population group 157 3.14.1 African 157 3.14.2 Coloured 158 3.14.3 Indian/Asian 159 3.14.4 White 160 3.14.5 Mixed 161 3.14.6 Unspecified 162 Previous Stats SA reports 163 STATS SA REPORT NO. 03-07-01(1999) vii SUMMARY Introduction back to 1981, is shown. The crude marriage rate for 1999 for the registered marriages was 335 per 100 000 of the population. In Figure 1 the crude The marriage and divorce statistics covered in this report include marriages marriage rates by province shows that Western Cape had the highest crude and divorces that were recorded through civil registration system in marriage rat e (540 per 100 000 of the population). Gauteng had the second 1999.This excludes the marriages solemnised under customary and certain highest rate (475 per 100 000 of the population), followed by Free State (471 religious ri tes during this time. Past legislation on the registration of per 100 000 of the population). KwaZulu-Natal had the lowest rate (150 per marriages and divorces in South Africa resulted in customary and certain 100 000 of the population). The low rate in KwaZulu-Natal could be religious marriages and divorces being excluded from the civil registration explained by the fact that unregistered customary and traditional marriages system. Marriages solemnised under religious or customary rites that did not mostly occur in this largely rural province. In general the more ‘rural’ a follow the prescribed marriage ceremony in the previous Marriages Act, 1961 province, the fewer the number of recorded marriages per 100 000 of the (Act No.