Fast facts

• The number of marriages for every 1,000 people has generally fallen in the last 40 years (9.3 in 1970, 7.4 in 1980, 5.3 in 2001, 5.5 in 2008).
   
• Cohabitation before marriage has increased significantly in the last 40 years. In 1975, only 16 per cent of those married lived together beforehand, increasing to 23 per cent in 1979. By 2008, however, 78 per cent of those married lived together beforehand.
   
• For those people who married in 1985–1987 and 2000–2002, the expected average duration of their total married life remained unchanged at around 32 years.
   
• The number of divorces for every 1,000 people more than doubled between 1975 and 1976 (from 1.8 to 4.6) when the Family Law Act 1975 came into force.  The number of divorces for every 1,000 people has steadily declined in the last 30 years (2.7 in 1980, 2.8 in 1999, 2.2 in 2008).
   
• The divorce rate from second marriages is a little higher than that from first marriages.
   
• At 2.2, Australia is in the top 10 countries for the highest divorce rate per 1,000 people. The United States is higher at approximately 4.95, Russia at 3.36, and the United Kingdom at 3.08.
   
• Reporting of domestic violence has increased. Thirty-six per cent of women who experienced physical assault by a male perpetrator reported it to the police in 2005 compared to 19 per cent in 1996, and that 19 per cent of women who experienced sexual assault reported it to the police in 2005 compared to 15 per cent in 1996.
   
• Contact arrangements for separated parents has changed. The proportion of children who rarely had contact with their natural parent living elsewhere (less than once per year or never) has declined (30% in 1997, 26% in 2003, 28% in 2006-07 and 24% in 2009-10).