The table visually illustrates data on the number of marriages, categorised as religious and civil marriage, along with the changes in average age at the time of marriage for australian men and women from 1960 to 2000.
Overall, there was a significant increase in civil marriage and became the predominant over the past 40 years, whereas the religion-based marriages peaked in 1980 before showing fluctuations. Additionally, the average ages of both brides and grooms rose steadily, with men consistently older than women at the same period.
In 1960, religious marriages were predominant, accounted for 25000, significantly more than triple the number of civil marriages that stood at 8000. Over the next two decades, this number surged to 50000 in 1980, maintaining their dominance despite a gradual increase in civil, which doubled from 8000 to 16000 during the same period. Thereafter, religious marriage numbers plunged to 32000 and recovered slightly to 34000 at the end. Meanwhile, a consistent upward trend was observed in civil marriages with the annual total gradually rising to 23000 in 1990, before rising more sharply to 40000 in the final year.
Regarding the average age of marriage, both bides and grooms married at progressively older ages over the years. In 1960, Australian men typically got married by the age of 24, three years older than their female counterparts at 21. Over the following decades, there was an increase of 2-3 years in average age when getting marriage for both genders, with men and women doing so at 32 and 30, respectively, at the end of the period.