According to the recent marriages and divorces report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), fewer South Africans are tying the knot. Those who have decided to get married, are choosing to wait until they are older or more accomplished to tie the knot.
As of 2021, almost 55% of all men in South Africa were classified as single, which was only a slightly larger rate compared to the 48% of all women.
Data that fewer South Africans are tying the knot, is a possible indicator of the cultural move away from the traditional institution of marriage in favour of cohabitation agreements, where two individuals have decided to live together but are not married – sharing living costs.
These partnerships are commonly referred to as “vat en sit” in Afrikaans (loosely translated as “take and sit down”). Although vat en sit relationships are a growing phenomenon, they are not recognised as legal marriages by South African law.
Besides the high decline in 2020, possibly due to Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings, the number of civil marriages have been declining, according to the report. Civil marriages fell by 22,5% between 2011 and 2019, and declined by a further 31,1% in 2020.
Customary marriage is one that is “negotiated, celebrated or concluded according to any of the systems of indigenous African customary law which exist in South Africa”, and excludes marriages concluded in accordance with Hindu, Muslim or other religious rites.
In 2020, 1 585 customary marriages were registered at the Department of Home Affairs, indicating a decrease of 43,2% from the 2 789 customary marriages registered in 2019. From 2011 to 2019, these marriages declined by 45,1%.
The report also revealed a drop in divorce, based on 16 097 completed divorce forms. The total suggests a drop of 7 613 (32,1%) divorces from the 23 710 cases dealt with in 2019. The 2020 data presented show that more wives than husbands – 8 490 (52,7%) women in comparison to 5 505 (34,2%) men – initiated divorce proceedings, and 934 (5,8%) divorces were initiated by both husband and wife.
In 2021, the divorce rate in South Africa indicated that about four out of ten marriages would end before the ten-year mark.
In 2020, black African couples had the greatest number of divorces in comparison to other population groups – this pattern has been the same for the ten-year period from 2011 to 2020.
Around 7 566 (47,0%) of the 16 097 divorces granted in 2020 were from the black African population group, followed by white 3 855 (23,9%), coloured 2 459 (15,3%), Indian or Asian 983 (6,1%), while divorces from various population groups (mixed) were at 484 (3,0%).
The population group of 750 couples was not specified.
