Marriage loses its pull as few SA women say 'I do'

The proportion of South African women aged 15 and older who have never married increased from 44.7% in 1996 to 57.1% in 2022, according to Stats SA.

Marriage appears to be on the decline for South African women, with the proportion who are married dropping sharply over nearly three decades.

In 1996, 38.8% of women aged 15 and older were married. By 2022, that had dropped to 25.6%.

The figures form part of a new Statistics South Africa report examining how the lives of women have changed since the early years of democracy.

Living together without getting married has also become more common, increasing from 4.9% in 1996 to 8.2% in 2022.