The news in brief
Statistics South Africa released its 2024 marriages and divorces report. The publication draws on administrative records, whose coverage and time period matter: annual divorce and marriage totals cannot be converted into an individual couple’s probability of divorce.
Statistics South Africa released its report on marriages and divorces recorded in 2024 on 19 March 2026 (Marriages and divorces 2024, publication details). Its subsequent explanatory article was published on 20 March 2026 (StatsSA article). The year described by the statistics must therefore be kept separate from the year of publication.
Administrative records can show the events captured by the reporting system. They are not a direct measure of the lifetime chances of a marriage ending in divorce. Dividing the number of divorces recorded in a year by the marriages recorded in that year compares different groups of couples, whose relationships began at different times (report and methodological context).
The report is useful background for understanding the forms of marriage and the divorces appearing in official records. Its scope and coverage should accompany any figures quoted from it. Unregistered relationships and other family arrangements should not simply be assumed to be represented in the same way.
For readers facing separation, population statistics do not determine the outcome of a case. Property arrangements, children’s interests and the available legal claims are addressed through the relevant legal process (Divorce Act). The report supplies social context, not a prediction for a particular household.
Going further
This news item is part of a broader topic, which our page South Africa: getting married, divorce and civil partnership covers in detail.
Read the page: South Africa: getting married, divorce and civil partnership