South Africa is seeing a marked shift in family formation, with new data showing the number of divorces steady over the past ten years, while the number of marriages has declined sharply over that period.

According to Statistics South Africa’s Marriages and Divorces report for 2024, there were 24 202 divorces granted in 2024, up 8.9% from 22 230 in 2023. Women were the main initiators of divorce, accounting for about 57.2% of all cases granted during the year. In 2015, the number of divorces had been 25 260, with the number staying fairly static over the next ten years.

The data also showed that fewer South Africans are getting married. A total of 102 373 marriages and unions were registered in 2024, down 2.6% from 105 123 in 2023. Over the longer term, the decline is sharper. Since 2015, the number of marriages and unions registered each year has fallen by 40 906, a drop of 28.5%.

White people were the most likely to get divorced. The number of divorces per 100 000 white people in South Africa was 110 but for black South Africans it was only 26. For coloured South Africans, the divorce rate per 100 000 people was 64 and for Indian South Africans it was 60. For South Africa as a whole the divorce rate was 39 per 100 000 people.