Marriages and Divorces 2024
South Africa, 2024
Get MicrodataIdentification
ZAF_2024_MD_v01_M
Marriages and Divorces 2024
MD 2024
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | ZAF |
Other Household Survey [hh/oth]
Marriage data: Data on marriages for citizens and permanent residents are obtained from registered marriage records that are collected through the civil registration systems of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). South Africa recognises three types of marriages by law: civil marriages, customary marriages, and civil unions. Before 2008, marriage data only covered civil marriages. The registration of customary marriages and civil unions began in 2003 and 2007 respectively. However, from 2008 onwards, Stats SA began publishing available data on customary marriages and civil unions.
Divorce data: Data on divorces are obtained from various regional courts that deal with divorce matters. The data are based on successful divorce cases that have been issued with a decree of divorce by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD) and the Office of the Chief Justice. Divorce cases come from marriages that were registered in different years as well as divorce cases that were filed in different years but whose divorce decrees were granted in the relevant year of collection.
NOTE: Although both the data on marriages and divorces are collected in the same year, the data files from each cannot be merged because there is no to link the records at the individual level
Administrative records data [adm]
Individuals
Version
Version 1: Edited, anonymised data for public distribution.
2026
DataFirst downloaded this version from the StatsSA website on 8th May, 2026
Scope
The marriage data is provided to Statistics South Africa by the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) from their marriage registration database based on registration forms. The province of registration of marriages and unions recorded may not necessarily be the province or place of usual residence of the couple. Hence, registration of the marriage can take place at any DHA office. The divorce data is obtained by Statistics South Africa from the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development from administrative records on divorces granted for civil marriages by its divorce courts.
Coverage
The lowest level of geographic aggregation covered by the data is province
The data covers all civil marriages, civil unions and customary marriages that were recorded by the Department of Home Affairs and all divorce applications that were granted by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2024 in South Africa.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Home Affairs | Government of South Africa | Data producer |
| Department of Justice and Constitutional Development | Government of South Africa | Data producer |
Study authorization
1999, 2024
| Agency name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA |
Statistics SA is authorised to collect data by the Statistics Act 1999 and the Statistics Amendment Act of 2024
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024 |
- Other [other]
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Home Affairs | Government of South Africa | DHA | Marriage registration |
| Department of Justice and Constutional Development | Government of South Africa | DOJCD | Divorce data |
Access policy
DataFirst data repository
Statistics South Africa's Isibalo site
Depositor information
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | StatsSA | Government of South Africa | https://www.statssa.gov.za |
2026-03-19
Distributor information
| Organization name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za |
2026-05-08
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://support.data1st.org | support@data1st.org |
Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 attribution license
Statistics South Africa. Marriages and Divorces 2024 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2026. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/nbz2-1504
Researchers agree to cite the data in their publications using the recommended citation in this metadata record, including the DOI (unique dataset identifier)
Researchers agree to send DataFirst a link to any research publication based on the data
Contacts
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Support | support@data1st.org | https://www.support@data1st.org |
Metadata production
DDI_ZAF_2024_MD_v01_M
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Datafirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer | |
| Development Data Group | DECDG | World Bank Group | Metadata adapted for World Bank Microdata Library |
2026-05-13
Metadata version
Identical to a metadata (zaf-statssa-md-2024-v1) published on DataFirst microdata repository (https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog). Some of the metadata fields have been edited.