Demography

1996 Census enumerated population by marital status and age, SEH males

	Married	Separated/ Divorced	Widowed	Never married	Total
No. of persons
15-24	1717	241	41	51402	53402
25-44	57734	10429	271	50309	118743
45-64	54598	11164	1296	8811	75869
65-74	18132	2275	1971	2332	24710
75 and over	9976	879	3705	1170	15730
OS visitors	3027	353	134	2548	6063
Total	145186	25341	7418	116571	294516

% of total
15-24	3.22	0.45	0.08	96.26	100.00
25-44	48.62	8.78	0.23	42.37	100.00
45-64	71.96	14.71	1.71	11.61	100.00
65-74	73.38	9.21	7.98	9.44	100.00
75 and over	63.42	5.59	23.55	7.44	100.00
OS visitors	49.93	5.83	2.21	42.03	100.00
All ages	49.30	8.60	2.52	39.58	100.00

Data source: ABS. 1996 Census of population and housing.

1996 Census enumerated population by marital status and age, SEH females

	Married	Separated/Divorced	Widowed	Never married	Total
No. of persons
15-24	3794	479	86	48769	53128
25-44	65109	13870	835	36988	116803
45-64	50837	13740	4989	5612	75177
65-74	15320	2958	9358	1911	29547
75 and over	6566	1340	17313	1949	27168
OS visitors	2538	352	303	2843	6036
All ages	144163	32740	32885	98072	307860

% of total
15-24	7.14	0.90	0.16	91.79	100.00
25-44	55.74	11.87	0.72	31.67	100.00
45-64	67.62	18.28	6.64	7.46	100.00
65-74	51.85	10.01	31.67	6.47	100.00
75 and over	24.17	4.93	63.73	7.17	100.00
OS visitors	42.04	5.84	5.02	47.10	100.00
All ages	46.83	10.63	10.68	31.86	100.00

Data source: ABS. 1996 Census of population and housing.

The Census enumerated population is the population counted depending on where persons were on the night of Census, which may or may not be where they usually stay.

Among people aged 15 years and over who were in SEH on the Census night, 48% were married, 10% separated/divorced, 7% widowed and 35% never married. Being widowed, separated or divorced were more common among SEH females than in SEH males. People aged 45-64 years had the highest separation/divorce rate. About 64% of females aged 75 and over were widowed, compared to only 24% in mates.

Marital status by LGA

	Married	Separated/Divorced	Widowed	Never married	Total
No. of persons
Botany	14492	2891	2059	8664	28106
Hurstville	29318	4375	4275	15267	53235
Kogarah	21416	3141	3050	11371	38978
Randwick	41971	10074	6469	41828	100342
Rockdale	36541	7033	5841	20323	69738
South Sydney (SEH part)	11262	5667	2281	23728	42938
Sutherland	87737	12456	8838	43216	152247
Sydney (SEH part)	3553	1087	343	4703	9686
Waverley	20106	6001	3713	22254	52074
Woollahra	17387	4651	2997	17897	42932
SEH	283783	57376	39866	209252	590277
NSW	2504822	458949	317359	1428827	4709957

% of total
Botany	51.56	10.29	7.33	30.83	100.00
Hurstville	55.07	8.22	8.03	28.68	100.00
Kogarah	54.94	8.06	7.82	29.17	100.00
Randwick	41.83	10.04	6.45	41.69	100.00
Rockdale	52.40	10.08	8.38	29.14	100.00
South Sydney (SEH part)	26.23	13.20	5.31	55.26	100.00
Sutherland	57.63	8.18	5.81	28.39	100.00
Sydney (SEH part)	36.68	11.22	3.54	48.56	100.00
Waverley	38.61	11.52	7.13	42.74	100.00
Woollahra	40.50	10.83	6.98	41.69	100.00
SEH	48.08	9.72	6.75	35.45	100.00
NSW	53.18	9.74	6.74	30.34	100.00

* Overseas visitors who intended to stay in Australia for less than 6 months are excluded.

Data source: ABS. 1996 Census of population and housing.

Marital status by ethnicity*

	% Married	% Separated/ Divorced	% Widowed	% Never married
Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander people	24.48	13.15	3.88	58.49
Non-Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander people	48.67	9.37	5.36	36.60

English speakers¹	45.23	10.42	7.14	37.21
Non-English speakers¹	56.19	7.77	5.03	31.01

Born in Australia²	43.30	9.24	6.94	40.51
Born in other main English speaking countries²	46.32	12.90	6.43	34.35
Born in non-English speaking countries²	60.55	9.60	6.07	23.77

^{* Excluding overseas visitors who intended to stay in Australia for less than 6 months.}
^{1. Excluding those whose language not stated.}
^{2. Excluding those whose birthplace not stated.}

Data source: ABS. 1996 Census of population and housing.

Aboriginal people were less likely than non-Aboriginal people to be in a registered marital relationship. More Aboriginal people were separated/divorced and less Aboriginal people were widowed, compared to non-Aboriginal people.

Compared to English speakers, people who spoke a language other than English at home were more likely to be in a registered marital relationship.

The rate of registered marriage was the highest among people born in non-English speaking countries. People born in main English speaking countries had the highest separation/divorce rate. (Main English speaking countries include UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, South Africa and New Zealand. Non-English speaking countries include all countries other than Australia and main English speaking countries.)

Trends in marital status*

	1986 Census	1991 Census	1996 Census
Males
%Married	53.06	51.40	49.28
%Separated/Divorced	7.52	7.76	8.66
%Widowed	2.62	2.66	2.53
%Never married	36.80	38.18	39.53

Females
%Married	50.92	49.59	46.92
%Separated/Divorced	9.09	9.42	10.73
%Widowed	12.31	11.20	10.80
%Never married	27.68	29.79	31.55
* Overseas visitors who intended to stay in Australia for less than 6 months are excluded.

Data source: ABS. 1996 Census of population and housing.

Fewer people were in a registered marital relationship at the 1996 Census than at the previous Censuses. Separation / divorce was more common now than 5 or ten years ago.


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