AUSTRALIANS are putting off marriage until they are older or opting out of it altogether. About three-quarters of couples who have married since 2000 lived together beforehand, compared with a rate of only 3 per cent in the 1960s. In 1986, the most common relationship for people aged 18 to 24 was marriage, whereas now it is a de facto relationship. When we do marry, we do it later. In 2007, the average age of people marrying for the first time was 29.6 for men and 27.6 for women, up from 25.9 and 23.8 respectively in 1987. Many people find a partner for life, with 70 per cent of people over 35 having had only one live-in partnership.
Aggregation of real-time updates on relationship and marriage news, research, and global trends compiled by
Marc Payan
