118,000 together, 49,000 apart: The startling figures that show love is blooming in Australia

More Australians got married last year than the year before, and fewer people got divorced, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Last year saw 118,439 marriages registered, and 48,700 divorces granted across the country.

"Marriage numbers have dropped 6.9 per cent from the record high of 127,161 in 2022, after two years when nuptial plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic," ABS head of marriages data James Eynstone-Hinkins said.

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In New South Wales and Victoria, the number of newly-weds went down by 13.2 and 10.3 per cent respectively,

Western Australian wedding bells rang 16.8 per cent more often, while in South Australia marriages were up 7.1 per cent.

"It's clear many couples needed to postpone their plans to get married during the pandemic, and this is seen not only in numbers but in higher median ages at marriage," Eynstone-Hinkins said. 

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"Median ages have historically been very stable, but when compared with 2019, they were up 0.6 years to 32.9 for men, and 0.7 years to 31.2 for women. 

The most popular date for people to tie the knot was November 11, with 1799 couples joining until death do them part.

Divorces were down 1.1 per cent nationally.

The median age for divorce has also risen between 2019.

Median divorcees were aged 47.1 for men, and 44.1 for women, both up by about a year,

This was driven by a fall in divorces among younger people.