Around 473 Aussie Gay Couples Got Divorced In 2021: ABS

The pandemic affected many wedding plans in Australia, but five years after same-sex marriages were legalised, gay couples are not as eager to tie the knot, as heterosexual couples.

In 2021, same-sex marriages accounted for 3.2 per cent of all marriages, compared with 5.5 per cent in 2018 – the first full year after marriage equality, according to the Australian Bureau of Satistics. 

And, we now know gay couples are getting divorced as well. For the first time, the ABS had reported figures of same-sex divorces.  Around 473 same-sex couples got divorced last year, including including 306 female same-sex couples and 167 male same-sex couples. 

Pandemic And Lockdowns Impact Wedding Plans

The pandemic continued to impact marriage plans in 2021. Around 89,164 couples got married in 2021, up from 78,989 in 2020, but lower than pre-pandemic levels – in 2019, there were 113,815 marriages. 

“Marriage numbers in Victoria and New South Wales were particularly affected from June and July 2021 onwards as public health restrictions were stepped up. As a result, marriage registrations in 2021 were down 34.6 per cent in Victoria and 31.0 per cent in New South Wales when compared with 2019,” James Eynstone-Hinkins, ABS Director of Health and Vital Statistics, said in a statement. 

“Marriages in other states and territories were less impacted, with numbers in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory almost returning to pre-pandemic levels.”

Over 80 percent of marriages in 2021 were administered by civil celebrants. Australians were most likely to get married in their early 30s, with the median age for men at the time of marriage being 32.1 years and 30.5 years for women.

Same-Sex Marriages Down

Same-sex marriages bucked the trend and the numbers fell again in 2021. There were 2,842 same-sex marriages registered in 2021. Across all states and territories, there were more female same-sex couples who got married (1,771) than male same-sex couples (1,072) in 2021. 

Since gay marriages were legalised in 2017, around 17,789 gay couples have walked down the aisle. The highest number of gay marriages were reported in 2018 – 6,538 gay couples got married that year. The numbers fell to 5,507 in 2019, before pandemic resulted in a steep fall in the number of gay weddings – 2,902 gay couples got married in 2020 and 2,842 in 2021. 

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia reported around 56,244 divorces in 2021, including 473 same-sex divorces. “Female couples accounted for almost two thirds of same-sex marriages and divorces,” the ABS said.

The ABS had counted around 24,000 gay marriages in its 2021 census. In 1996, the ABS for the first time collected data on gay couples and reported that there were 10,215 same-sex couples in Australia. The 2001 Census recorded 19, 594 same sex couples, which grew to 33,700 in the 2011 Census and 46,800 same-sex couples in the 2016 census.