Abstract

The do-file marital_spouselinks.do combines all data on people's marital statuses and reported spouses to create the following datasets: 1. all_marital_reports - a listing of all the times an individual has reported their current marital status with the id numbers of the reported spouse(s); this listing is as reported so may include discrepancies (i.e. a 'Never married' status following a 'Married' one) 2. all_spouse_pairs_full - a listing of each time each spouse pair has been reported plus summary information on co-residency for each pair 3. all_spouse_pairs_clean_summarised - this summarises the data from all_spouse_pairs_full to give start and end dates of unions 4. marital_status_episodes - this combines data from all the sources to create episodes of marital status, each has a start and end date and a marital status, and if currently married, the spouse ids of the current spouse(s) if reported. There are several variables to indicate where each piece of information is coming from.

The first 2 datasets are made available in case people need the 'raw' data for any reason (i.e. if they only want data from one study) or if they wish to summarise the data in a different way to what is done for the last 2 datasets.

The do-file is quite complicated with many sources of data going through multiple processes to create variables in the datasets so it is not always straightforward to explain where each variable come from on the documentation. The 4 datasets build on each other and the do-file is documented throughout so anyone wanting to understand in great detail may be better off examining that. However, below is a brief description of how the datasets are created:

Marital status data are stored in the tables of the study they were collected in: AHS Adult Health Study [ahs_ahs1] CEN Census (initial CRS census) [cen_individ] CENM In-migration (CRS migration form) [crs_cenm] GP General form (filled for various reasons) [gp_gpform] SEI Socio-economic individual (annual survey from 2007 onwards) [css_sei] TBH TB household (study of household contacts of TB patients) [tb_tbh] TBO TB controls (matched controls for TB patients) [tb_tbo & tb_tboto2007] TBX TB cases (TB patients) [tb_tbx & tb_tbxto2007] In many of the above surveys as well as their current marital status, people were asked to report their current and past spouses along with (sometimes) some information about the marriage (start/end year etc.). These data are stored all together on the table gen_spouse, with variables indicating which study the data came from. Further evidence of spousal relationships is taken from gen_identity (if a couple appear as co-parents to a CRS member) and from crs_residency_episodes_clean_poly, a combined dataset (if they are living in the same household at the same time). Note that co-parent couples who are not reported in gen_spouse are only retained in the datasets if they have co-resident episodes.

The marital status data are appended together and the spouse id data merged in. Minimal data editing/cleaning is carried out. As the spouse data are in long format, this dataset is reshaped wide to have one line per marital status report (polygamy in the area allows for men to have multiple spouses at one time): this dataset is saved as all_marital_reports.

The list of reported spouses on gen_spouse is appended to a list of co-parents (from gen_identity) and this list is cleaned to try to identify and remove obvious id errors (incestuous links, same sex [these are not reported in this culture] and large age difference). Data reported by men and women are compared and variables created to show whether one or both of the couple report the union. Many records have information on start and end year of marriage, and all have the date the union was reported. This listing is compared to data from residency episodes to add dates that couples were living together (not all have start/end dates so this is to try to supplement this), in addition the dates that each member of the couple was last known to be alive or first known to be dead are added (from the residency data as well). This dataset with all the records available for each spouse pair is saved as all_spouse_pairs_full.

The date data from all_spouse_pairs_full are then summarised to get one line per couple with earliest and latest known married date for all, and, if available, marriage and separation date. For each date there are also variables created to indicate the source of the data.
As culture only allows for women having one spouse at a time, records for women with 'overlapping' husbands are cleaned. This dataset is then saved as all_spouse_pairs_clean_summarised.

Both the cleaned spouse pairs and the cleaned marital status datasets are converted into episodes: the spouse listing using the marriage or first known married date as the beginning and the last known married plus a year or separation date as the end, the marital status data records collapsed into periods of the same status being reported (following some cleaning to remove impossible reports) and the start date being the first of these reports, the end date being the last of the reports plus a year. These episodes are appended together and a series of processes run several times to remove overalapping episodes. To be able to assign specific spouse ids to each married episode, some episodes need to be 'split' into more than one (i.e. if a man is married to one woman from 2005 to 2017 and then marries another woman in 2008 and remains married to her till 2017 his intial married episode would be from 2005 to 2017, but this would need to be split into one from 2005 to 2008 which would just have 1 idspouse attached and another from 2008 to 2017, which would have 2 idspouse attached). After this splitting process the spouse ids are merged in.
The final episode dataset is saved as marital_status_episodes.

Analysis unit

Individual

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Number of marriages that took place in England and Wales by age, sex, previous partnership status and civil or religious ceremony.

This dataset presents the annual number of marriages and divorces over multiple years. It provides insights into trends in marital stability and societal changes in marriage and divorce rates. The data can be used for demographic studies, policy planning, and social research, helping to analyze patterns in family structures and relationship dynamics over time.

The dataset contains the number of marriages categorized by the age groups of both the bride and the groom. Each record represents a combination of age groups for the bride and groom and the corresponding number of marriages for that combination. A marriage is the act, ceremony or process by which the legal relationship between two persons is formed. The legality of the union may be established by civil, religious or other means as recognised by the laws of the country.

This dataset shows all marriages in Basel-Stadt by date of marriage. All marriages in which the husband was resident in Basel-Stadt at the time of the wedding shall be taken into account. For methodological reasons, the values published here may differ from those in public statistics: In the latter, subsequently reported marriages are counted in the last year not yet concluded. In this record, they are subsequently counted in the year of the wedding date.

Abstract

The Marriages and Divorces (MD) dataset is one of three primary sources of of marriage and divorce statistics in South Africa. Unlike the other two sources (population censuses and household sample surveys), the MD dataset is compiled from administrative data and based on continuous recording (i.e. from civil registration systems and administrative records). Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) regularly publishes a series of data on marriages and divorces, with the first dataset in the series begining in 2006. The most recent dataset in the series is MD 2023.

Marriage data: Data on marriages for citizens and permanent residents are obtained from registered marriage records that are collected through the civil registration systems of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). South Africa recognises three types of marriages by law: civil marriages, customary marriages and civil unions. Before 2008, marriage data only covered civil marriages. The registration of customary marriages and civil unions began in 2003 and 2007 respectively. However from 2008 onwards, Stats SA began publishing available data on customary marriages and civil unions.

Divorce data: Data on divorces are obtained from various regional courts that deal with divorce matters. The data are based on successful divorce cases that have been issued with a decree of divorce by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD). Divorce cases come from marriages that were registered in different years as well as divorce cases that were filed in different years but whose divorce decrees were granted in the relevant year of collection.

NOTE: although both the data on marriages and divorces are collected in the same year, the data sets are not linked to each other.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Individuals

Universe

The data covers all civil marriages, civil unions and customary marriages that were recorded by the Department of Home Affairs and all divorce applications that were granted by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2023 in South Africa.

Kind of data

Administrative records

Mode of data collection

Other

SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES MARITAL STATUS - DP02 Universe - Population 15 Year and over Survey-Program - American Community Survey 5-year estimates Years - 2020, 2021, 2022 The marital status question is asked to determine the status of the person at the time of interview. Many government programs need accurate information on marital status, such as the number of married women in the labor force, elderly widowed individuals, or young single people who may establish homes of their own. The marital history data enables multiple agencies to more accurately measure the effects of federal and state policies and programs that focus on the well-being of families. Marital history data can provide estimates of marriage and divorce rates and duration, as well as flows into and out of marriage. This information is critical for more refined analyses of eligibility for program services and benefits, and of changes resulting from federal policies and programs.

Annual population estimates by marital status or legal marital status, age and sex, Canada, provinces and territories.

Number of divorces and divorce rate per 1,000 marriages, by duration of marriage and place of occurrence, 1970 to most recent year.

This dataset presents annual statistics on registered marriages and divorces categorized by the husband's nationality. It includes both absolute numbers and percentage distributions over multiple years, offering insights into demographic patterns, marriage stability, and social trends. The data is valuable for researchers, policymakers, and analysts studying family dynamics and population changes.

Number of divorces and various divorce indicators (crude divorce rate, divorce rate for married persons, age-standardized divorce rate, total divorce rate, mean and median duration of marriage, median duration of divorce proceedings, percentage of joint divorce applications), by place of occurrence, 1970 to most recent year.

This table includes data on contracted marriages and registered partnerships among the Dutch population.

The following information is available: - Marriages by sex of the partners. - Marrying persons by sex and marital status before marriage. - Average age at marriage by sex and marital status. - Average number of contracted marriages by sex. - Partnership registrations by sex of the partners.

Data available from: 1950

Status of the figures: All figures in this publication are final data.

Changes per 13 June 2025: Final figures of 2024 have been added.

When will new figures be published? Figures of 2025 will be added in the 2nd quarter of 2026.

This dataset compares birth, death and marriage registrations completed by the Office of the Registrar General, beginning in 1925, to the most current published annual report (2022). Data released for 2024 is preliminary and may not match counts from other sources. The data represents counts in the reference calendar quarters, which are collated approximately 90 days after the end of the quarter. Previously released counts for 2024 are updated to reflect vital event registrations completed after the release of the initial report. Each subsequent quarterly report is the cumulative total of the preceding quarterly reports. ServiceOntario’s ability to provide timely information depends on receiving vital event registration information from a variety of sources. The preliminary data presented may not represent all the events that occurred in the reporting period. This is particularly true for events that occurred near the end of the reporting period as they may not have been received by ServiceOntario by the time the data is collated. Final counts for the reporting year will be released with the publication of the Office of the Registrar General Annual Report. The Vital Statistics Act requires that after the end of each calendar year, the Registrar General publish a report that includes the number of births, marriages, deaths, still-births, adoptions and changes of name registered during the calendar year preceding the one that has ended.

Marriages and divorces by region, type of couple, observations and year

Number of marriages and various nuptiality indicators (crude marriage rate, number of marriages of different-gender or same-gender couples [when available], total first-marriage rate and probability of ever marrying according to the first-marriage table), by place of occurrence, 1991 to most recent year.

This collection provides data on labor force activity for the week prior to the survey. Comprehensive data are available on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons 14 years old and over. Also included are personal characteristics such as age, sex, race, marital status, veteran status, household relationship, educational background, and Spanish origin. In addition, data pertaining to marital history and fertility are included in the file. Men who were ever married (currently widowed, divorced, separated, or married) aged 15 and over were asked the number of times married and if the first marriage ended in widowhood or divorce. Ever married women aged 15 and over were asked the number of times married, date of marriage, date of widowhood or divorce, and if divorced the date of separation of the household for as many as three marriages. Questions on fertility were asked of ever married women 15 years and over and never married women 18 years and over. These questions included number of liveborn children, and date of birth, sex, and current residence for as many as five children. In addition, women between the ages of 18 and 39 were asked how many children they expect to have during their remaining childbearing years. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08899.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.

Number and percentage of marriages, by type of marriage (opposite-sex, same-sex), month of marriage, and place of occurrence, 2000 to 2004.

Statistics on marriages which took place in England and Wales which include figures on cohabitation before marriage. The cohort analyses provide statistics on the proportion of men and women who have ever married or remarried by certain ages by year of birth.

A data set of first marriages (including marriage location and ages of spouses at marriage) and lifespans of spouses (including year and location of births and deaths, where known), for marriages conducted between 1600 and 1899 in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Also included is a binary indicator for whether the marriage, birth or death locations were urban or rural between 1600 and 1800, according to the coding system used by Bosker et al. 2013 [Rev. Econ. Stat., 95(4), 1418-1437 doi:10.1162/REST_a_00284]. The data set is derived from a genealogical database, which was constructed from family tree (GEDCOM) files contributed by users of www.genealogieonline.nl. The genealogical data from contributed files was error-checked before being combined into a single database using the TreeChecker application. From the initial pool of >1600 f iles contributed by the users of www.genealogieonline.nl, 924 files were included in the database after an assessment of the percentage of errors in each file, hence the database is known as the GO 924 set.Duplicate marriages were identified by the year of marriage and the first 7 letters of each spouse surname, whereupon a random duplicate was selected for inclusion in the data set. Note that names of individuals and exact dates of marria ges, births and deaths are excluded from this data set to prevent identification of individuals, as the genealogical data was provided to our research group on the basis that it would only be published in an aggregated or anonymised format. Access to the un-anonymised data may be granted subject to confidentiality agreements, please contact the authors for further information. Marriages were only included where the place of marriage had been checked and geocoded with latitude and longitude coordinates, where (as far as we could ascertain) it was the first marriage of the spouse, age at marriage was > 13 for both spouses, all lifespans were < 111 and no estimated dates were used to calculate spouse lifespan.The dataset is in a long format, in which there is a separate record for each spouse. It can be determined whether the spouse is the husba nd or wife (and conversely whether the other is the wife or husband) by the spouse_sex variable. A description of each variable is included in the text file accompanying the csv data file.

This data set contains counts of the total number of marriages by year, by the previous marital status of each spouse. The Office of the Registrar General (ORG) is responsible for maintaining vital statistics for the province of Ontario. The data provided represents the total number of completed registrations as of a specific date, tabulated or filtered by the given variables, and includes both residents and non-residents of Ontario (unless otherwise stated). This information is released in compliance with the Vital Statistics Act R.S.O. 1990, c. V. 4. Please note that the ORG does not guarantee the suitability, completeness or accuracy of the information.