New Zealand's marriage rate is the lowest it has been since the 1960s but it isn't due to the effects of COVID-19.
On Tuesday Statistics NZ released new data from 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 which shows fewer Kiwis are tying the knot and a slight increase in divorces.
Population indicators manager Tehseen Islam said last year 19,071 marriages and civil unions took place in New Zealand.
"This is down from 20,949 in 2018, and from 27,201 at its peak in 1971," Islam says.
In 2019 the marriage rate was 9.8 per 1000 people aged 16 years and over which is less than half of the rate of 30 years ago.
Islam says this is due to the number of marriages slightly decreasing while the population increased.
"While the number of marriages has been around 20,000 over the last few decades, the New Zealand population is increasing, meaning declining marriage rates."
In the March quarter of 2020, the marriage rate is also expected to decline but it isn't due to coronavirus.
"Although marriages over this period follow the downwards trends, there does not appear to be a significant drop in marriages as a result of COVID-19," Statistics NZ reported.
Instead, Statistics NZ says the declining marriage rate is due to more Kiwis deciding to forgo marriage, instead choosing to remain in de facto relationships.
In 2019 there was also a slight increase in divorces, although the rate continues to decline since the 1980s.
There were 8388 divorces in 2019 which was up from an average of 8075 over the past five years. But despite this, the divorce rate remained the same at 8.6 per 1000 marriages.
The divorce rate peaked in 1981 with a rate of 17.1 and two decades ago was at 12.2.
Statistics NZ says the peak was a result of legislative changes which made getting a divorce easier.
But the chance of a marriage ending in divorce has also dropped.
Around 20 percent of marriages that occurred in the late 1990s divorced within 10 years, dropping to around 15 percent for marriages occurring in the late 2000s.
