With the crazy time we had last year, we’ve all been interested to see just how much the Australian Wedding Statistics for 2020 were affected.
While we all knew that there’d be some pretty significant effects on the data, it’s not until the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the wedding statistics for 2020 this week that we really got to see how widespread the impact was.
When we put all the Australian wedding statistics for 2020 into perspective, it’s clear how much of an influence COVID has had on the marriage (and unfortunate separation) levels for Aussie couples.
Of course, the number of marriages in January and February 2020 were similar to past years. It’s March that saw everything begin to unravel for couples and for Melbourne’s vibrant wedding industry. While the rest of Australia was impacted to a degree, it was Victoria that was hardest hit. The number of weddings in Victoria dropped by 41.9% in 2020 when compared with 2019. The national figure was a 30.6% drop, so Victoria really brought down the stats!
To get an idea how big that shift is, this was the largest decrease in marriages ever reported to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is even with two World Wars and a Spanish Flu to compete with! Australia registered 78,989 marriages in 2020, which is also the lowest number in nearly 60 years.
When it comes to same-sex marriages, the statistics were a little surprising. While numbers themselves dropped, of course, the percentage of same-sex marriages out of the national total was 3.7%. This was a proportionate drop from 2019’s 4.8%.
Civil weddings are still by far the most popular in Australia. Civil ceremonies make up 80.3% of all marriages in 2020, compared with religious weddings.
On the flip side, the ABS report didn’t see a drop in divorce rates last year.
With all the pressures of 2020, some may find that surprising. Of course, we may see the true impact in this area in the next couple of years – we don’t know how many couples separated during that year. The collateral damage from COVID with regard to marriages ending and resulting divorce rates will be better known in 2022.
With restrictions now a thing of the past, we’re keen to see marriage numbers go up again next year. For more detailed statistics in the world of weddings in 2022, check out the the ABS’ website.
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