Marriages and Divorces 2024: South Africa
The Marriages and Divorces 2024 data covers the three types of marriages recognised by law in South Africa: civil marriages, customary marriages, and civil unions. Before 2008, marriage data only covered civil marriages. The registration of customary marriages began in 2003 and civil unions in 2007. Data on customary marriages was included from 2008. The data also covers divorces filed in the regional courts.
The Marriages and Divorces dataset is compiled by Statistics South Africa from civil registration systems and administrative records. Data on marriages is for citizens and permanent residents of South Africa and is obtained from the civil registration system of the SA Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Data on divorces is obtained by Statistics South Africa from the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development from administrative records on divorces granted for civil marriages by its divorce courts.
Earlier data on marriages and divorces, as well as other civil registration data from Statistics South Africa is available on our data cite.