According to Stats SA data, there is a trend towards decreasing popularity of marriage among women in South Africa. The percentage of women over 15 who have never been married has increased from 44.7% in 1996 to 57.1% in 2022.
Overall, the proportion of married women in the country has significantly decreased over almost three decades. If in 1996, 38.8% of women aged 15 and older were married, this figure dropped to 25.6% by 2022.
These statistics are part of a new report from Statistics South Africa, which analyzes changes in women's lives since the beginning of the democratic period.
Furthermore, cohabitation without official marriage registration has become more common; this indicator rose from 4.9% in 1996 to 8.2% in 2022.
Western Cape remains the leader in the number of marriages
Despite the national decline in interest in marriage, the Western Cape province continues to play a significant role in marriage registrations. Specific Stats SA data shows that in 2024, 23% of the country's civil marriages were registered in the Western Cape, placing this province just behind Gauteng, where the figure was 24.1%.
South Africans have also started getting married later. In 2024, the median age of women entering into civil marriage reached 35 years, while for men it was 39 years.
There is also a decrease in the total number of registered marriages. In 2024, 102,373 marriages and unions were registered in South Africa, compared to 143,279 in 2015, representing a drop of almost 29%.
Although the latest figures do not fully explain the reason for the decline in the number of married women, the broader Stats SA report points to significant changes in women's lives since 1996, including areas of education, employment, and women's roles in households.
In 2022, nearly half of households in South Africa were headed by women, which is a noticeable change compared to 37.8% in 1996.
It is important to note that the 57.1% figure does not mean that more than half of South African women have decided never to marry. The 'never married' category in the Stats SA report includes women over 15 who were not married at the time of the census, implying the possibility of marrying in the future.
However, the combination of these data demonstrates a clear transformation over almost three decades: fewer women are married, more couples live together without registration, and those who do marry do so at a more mature age.