Key messages

On this page:

• Divorce rate and number of divorces
• Age-specific divorce rates
• Age at divorce
• Duration of marriage
• Same-gender divorces
• Divorces involving children

Divorce rate and number of divorces

Figure 1 shows the divorce rate and the number of divorces since the early 1970s. It should be noted that administrative changes introduced in 2021 enabled divorces to be finalised in a shorter time frame, leading to a temporary spike in the divorce numbers and rate.

• In 2023, there were 2.3 divorces per 1,000 residents aged 16 years and over, the lowest level since the mid-1970s.
• The latest divorce rate continues the downward trend since the turn of new millennium (see chart 1 of 1 in Figure 1).
• The Family Law Act 1975, implemented in January 1976, allowed a divorce based on ‘irretrievable breakdown’, known as ‘no-fault divorce’, and a period of at least 12 months separation was sufficient evidence of this. The figure shows the soaring divorce rate in 1976, with the legislative change enabling some long-term separations and divorce applications filed in the previous years to be formalised.

Figure 1: The crude divorce rate in 2023 is the lowest since the implementation of the Family Law Act 1975
Rate and number of divorces, 1971–2023

Age-specific divorce rates

Noting that divorce rates apply only to married people and do not capture separations from cohabiting relationships, Figure 2 shows the divorce rate by age group for married men and women. The calculation of age-specific divorce rates for the married population requires data from the ABS Census of Population and Housing, with 2021 the most recent year of data.

The differences between men and women in the age-specific divorce rates reflect the gender differences in opposite-gender marriage patterns. A man will often, but not always, marry a younger woman, leading to the median age at marriage for men being older than for women. Then, among marriages that end, the median age at divorce is also older for men than women. This is most apparent in the higher age-specific divorce rates for women at younger ages and for men at older ages.

• For married men, the highest divorce rate was at age 25–29 years and, for married women, it was highest at 24 years and under and 25–29 years.
• For both married men and married women, the divorce rate declines with increasing age. Age at first marriage has increased for both men and women and people are less likely to be married nowadays than in the past but people marrying at a younger age are more likely to divorce (Hewitt, 2008).

Figure 2: The divorce rate declined steeply with age from early 50s for both married men and women, with the pattern being more pronounced for married women
Divorce rate by age, married men and women, 2021

Changes in age-specific divorce rates for married men and married women are shown in Figure 3. Looking at trends between 1981 and 2021:

• For married men and women in age groups under 45 years, the age-specific divorce rates rose to a peak by 2001, before declining and then rising again in 2021 (noting there were changes to administrative processes that year).
• The decline in the married population under 25 years old may make the rates increasingly volatile for this age group.
• For older age groups, age-specific divorce rates have generally increased over time.

Figure 3: The divorce rate generally declined for married persons in younger age groups but has increased for older married persons since 2001
Divorce rate by age, married men and women, selected years, 1981–2021

Age at divorce

Consistent with the gender differences and trends in age-specific divorce rates discussed above:

• In 2023 the median age at divorce was 47.1 years for men and 44.1 for women, the oldest in the series for both genders since the 1970s (see Figure 4).
• The increase in median age at divorce is largely attributed to trends in people marrying later (see Family Facts and Figures: Marriages in Australia 2024) as well as more divorces involving longer marriages (see the discussion on marriage duration below). 

Figure 4: The median age at divorce has steadily increased for both men and women since the early 1980s
Median age of men and women at divorce, 1971–2023

Duration of marriage

• Over the last decade (2011–23), the median duration of marriage to divorce for divorcing couples was between 12 and 13 years. The median duration of marriage to final separation was shorter, at 8 to 9 years. Based on these statistics, the median length of time from separation to finalising divorce was around 3–4 years. See chart 1 of 3 in Figure 5, which shows the trends from 1976.
• The marriage duration for 2022 and 2023 is noticeably longer than for 2020 and 2021. The most recent increase is mostly consistent with the trend that began before the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the long-term increasing trend since the 1980s. The trend also aligns with the rise in the divorce rate among the older age groups and the decline among the younger age groups, discussed above.
• Between 1980 and 2023, among marriages that ended in divorce, the proportion with a shorter duration marriage to divorce declined significantly while the proportion with a longer duration marriage to divorce increased.
• Chart 2 of 3 in Figure 5 shows the distribution of durations of marriage to divorce in selected years. At extreme ends of the distribution in 2023:
  • 12% of divorces had a marriage duration less than 5 years.
  • 29% had a marriage duration of 20 years or more.

Showing the same kind of trend, detailed information on the changing distribution of duration of marriage to final separation is shown in chart 3 of 3 in Figure 5.

Figure 5: The proportion of divorces involving long-term marriages (20+ years) has increased since 1980.
Median duration, duration to divorce and duration to separation, selected years, 1976–2023

Same-gender divorces

Same-gender marriages were included in the marriages data for the first time in 2018, following the amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 that allowed same-gender couples to legally marry in Australia and came into effect on 9 December 2017.¹ Divorces of same-gender couples were reported for the first time in 2021, and divorces involving one or both partners identifying by another term (i.e. non-binary gender term) were reported in 2023.

• In 2023, 394 divorces were granted to female same-gender marriages, 228 divorces to male same-gender marriages, and 74 divorces to couples with at least one person identifying by another gender term, totalling 696.
• The number of divorces granted to same-gender couples increased from 2021 to 2023 for both male and female same-gender couples (see chart 1 of Figure 6).

It is worth nothing that while female same-gender divorces outnumbered male same-gender divorces, the number of female same-gender marriages was also higher. Comparing marriage and divorce rates for female and male same-gender couples (see chart 2 of Figure 6):

• There were 1,080 female divorces of same-gender couples recorded between 2021 and 2023, accounting for 6.8% of the number of female same-gender marriages accumulated between 2018 and 2023.
• The total number of male divorces of same-gender couples between 2021 and 2023 was 573, accounting for 5.4% of the number of male same-gender marriages accumulated between 2018 and 2023.

Figure 6: The number of same-gender divorces has increased for both genders
Number and proportion of same-gender divorces

Divorces involving children

• Figure 7 shows that in the last 2 decades about one in two divorces were among parents of children aged under 18 years.
• The proportion of divorces involving children under 18 years fell from 68% in 1975 to 50% in 2002. The proportion has trended down again slightly and, since 2014, has remained stable at around 47%.
• The long-term decline in the proportion involving children is partly due to the rise in divorces of long-term marriages where children are already grown up. An overall decline in the fertility rate and a rise in childlessness may also have contributed to this decline (see the Family Facts & Figures: Births in Australia).

Figure 7: The proportion of divorces involving children under 18 years had fallen since the 1970s but remained stable in the last decade.
Proportion of divorces involving children aged under 18 years, 1971-2023

¹The terminology in relation to gay and lesbian married couples has evolved. In annually released data on marriages and divorces, ABS used ‘same-sex’ prior to 2022 and ‘same-gender’ from 2022. The term ‘same-gender’ is used here to be consistent with the current terminology used by the ABS.