Wives file 57% of divorces as SA marriages decline for 10th straight year
The reports confirm fewer South Africans are choosing marriage.
Statistics South Africa’s Marriages and Divorces 2024 report shows divorces rose 8,9% to 24 202 last year, with wives filing 57,2% of cases.
The figure is up from 22 230 divorces in 2023. At the same time, marriages and unions fell 2,6% to 102 373, continuing a decade-long slide that has seen registrations drop 28,5% since 2015.
Civil marriages alone stood at 97 510, down 1,8% on the previous year.
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Gauteng recorded the highest number of wife-initiated divorces at 4 289, which is 31% of the national total.
The Western Cape followed with 2 579 cases (18,6%), KwaZulu-Natal 1 910 (13,8%), the Eastern Cape 1 127 (8,1%) and Limpopo 1 053 (7,6%). The Free State accounted for 1 022 cases (7,4%), North West 910 (6,6%), Mpumalanga 782 (5,6%) and the Northern Cape just 181 (1,3%).
Most women who filed were ending their first marriage (89,1%). Only 6,8% had been married twice and 0,7% more than three times, 70.7% of female plaintiffs were younger than their husbands.
Median age at divorce rose slightly for both sexes between 2020 and 2024 – from 45 to 46 for men and from 41 to 42 for women.
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According to Stats SA, the largest group of women who divorced were aged 40 to 44 (4 906 cases, 20,3%), followed by those aged 35 to 39 (4 775 cases, 19,7%). Fewer than 1% were under 25.
Almost 45% of women who filed were employed, the highest numbers coming from professional, semi-professional and technical occupations.
Marriages that lasted five to nine years produced the most divorces (6 451 cases, 26,7%), followed by those of 10 to 14 years (5 167 cases, 21,3%). Four in every 10 divorces involved unions that had lasted less than 10 years.
The report confirms fewer South Africans are choosing marriage, and those who do are waiting longer before tying the knot, trends that coincide with women’s growing financial independence and willingness to end marriages that no longer serve them.
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