Australia Yearbook - 2001

196 Year Book Australia 2001
The significance of divorce is underlined in
graphs C4.35a and C4.35b, which show the
proportions of Australian women and men at
various censuses between 1901 and 1996 who
were divorced or separated.
The graphs show the steep increase in the
proportions of each age group who are divorced
with each census.
The fact that half of Australian marriages end in
divorce raises the question of what happens to
the people involved. Currently around a third of
Australian registered marriages involve at
least one previously divorced partner. Others
repartner in de facto relationships rather
than formally remarry; in 1996, 25.8% of
people in such relationships were divorced,
8% separated and 1.3% widowed (ABS 1998,
39). However, increased levels of divorce
have contributed to increasing numbers of
Australians living without partners. In 1996,
4.4 million or 37% of adult Australians were
living without partners, compared with 33%
in 1986 (ABS 2000b, 43).
%
20
C4.35a
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN DIVORCED OR SEPARATED, By Age
Group, Australia—1901 to 1996
15
10
5
1901
1911
1947
1971
1981
1996
0
15–19 20–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–59 60–64 65+
Source: Australian Censuses 1901 to 1996.
%
20
C4.35b
PERCENTAGE OF MEN DIVORCED OR SEPARATED, By Age
Group, Australia—1901 to 1996
15
10
5
1901
1911
1947
1971
1981
1996
0
15–19 20–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–59 60–64 65+
Source: Australian Censuses 1901 to 1996.