The Commonwealth Marriage Act 1961 was amended on 9 December 2017 to allow two people to marry regardless of their sex or gender.

BDM has received many requests for marriage statistics since the law changed. In response to this community interest, and to mark the first year of same sex marriage in Australia, we are publishing additional statistics about marriages registered in Victoria.

Place of marriage

Marriages registered by postcode, October to December 2018
Suburb Postcode Number of marriages
East Melbourne 3002 1,089
Melbourne 3000 307
South Yarra 3141 187
Yarra Glen, Dixons Creek 3775 164
Coldstream, Yering, Gruyere 3770 161
Box Hill 3128 131
Geelong 3220 105
Werribee 3030 102
St Kilda 3182 89
Brighton 3186 85

Average age at marriage

  October 2018 November 2018 December 2018
Average age of couple (years) 34.41 33.67 33.72

Marriages by age group

Average age group of couples being married
Age group (years) October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 Total
20-29 939 1,699 1,388 3,976
30-39 902 1,531 1,259 3,692
40-49 270 455 360 1,085
50-59 177 236 197 610
60 and over 68 91 70 229
Total 2,356 4,012 3,224 9,592

Marriages by sex or gender

Sex or gender of the parties October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 Total
Male-female 2,203 3,770 3,078 9,051
Female-Female 87 156 78 321
Male-Male 64 82 64 210
Non-specific 2 4 4 10
Total 2,356 4,012 3,224 9,592

These statistics show the number of marriages registered, rather than the number of marriages conducted. Celebrants may submit the paperwork to register a marriage up to 14 days after conducting a ceremony.