Marriages, civil unions, and divorces

Statistics on marriages and civil unions record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year.

Civil unions are a recent form of legal relationship. A civil union may be entered into by couples of the same sex or by couples of different sexes. A couple who are currently married can transfer their relationship to a civil union. An opposite-sex couple in a civil union can transfer their relationship to a marriage. As in the past, a same-sex couple cannot enter into a marriage. The Civil Union Act 2004 came into force on 26 April 2005 and the first ceremonies were celebrated on 29 April 2005.

Statistics on divorces record the number of divorces (marriage dissolutions) granted in New Zealand each year.

Marriage, civil union, and divorce statistics, along with birth and death statistics, are often referred to as 'vital statistics'. They provide the basic information about the structure of the population and how it changes over time.

See Civil Unions and Marriages (Provisional) to get this quarterly data.

Information releases

• Marriages, civil unions, and divorces 

Data

• Infoshare – detailed tables are available under ‘Population’ on the Browse page
• Civil unions and marriages table (provisional)  
• Population indicators table

Information about data

• Information about marriages data
• Information about civil unions data
• Information about divorces data

Reports and articles

• Demographic Trends
• Vitals articles
  A list of ad-hoc articles about vital statistics (births, deaths, marriages, civil unions, and divorces).
• Wedding Tourism: 1980–2009 
• Characteristics of Same-sex Couples in New Zealand 
• Marriage and divorce in New Zealand

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