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. 2009 Jun 30:20:279-312.
doi: 10.4054/DemRes.2009.20.13.

Dispensing with marriage: Marital and partnership trends in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 2000-2006

Victoria Hosegood  1 , Nuala McGrath  2 , Tom Moultrie  3
Affiliations

Dispensing with marriage: Marital and partnership trends in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 2000-2006

Victoria Hosegood et al. Demogr Res. .

Abstract

This paper describes marriage and partnership patterns and trends in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from 2000-2006. The study is based on longitudinal, population-based data collected by the Africa Centre demographic surveillance system. We consider whether the high rates of non-marriage among Africans in South Africa reported in the 1980s were reversed following the political transformation underway by the 1990s. Our findings show that marriage has continued to decline with a small increase in cohabitation among unmarried couples, particularly in more urbanised areas. Comparing surveillance and census data, we highlight problems with the use of the 'living together' marital status category in a highly mobile population.

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Figures

Figure 3
Figure 3. Age-specific marital patterns in women 20 years and older1 from a) the 2001 South African Census for rural KwaZulu Natal, b) ACDIS 2000 using Re-code 12, c) ACDIS 2000 using Re-code 23
Notes: 1 The 10% sample of the 1996 Census is available only in five-year age groups. 2 Recode-1 classifies women resident in the second round of ACDIS (2000) as ‘living together’ providing that they are not currently married (never married, widowed, divorced and separated), and their partner was a member of the same household (resident or non-resident). 3 Recode-2 classifies women as ‘living together’ only if they are not currently married and have a co-resident partner in the same household.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Age-specific marital patterns in women 20 years and older1 from a) the 2001 South African Census for rural KwaZulu Natal, b) ACDIS 2000 using Re-code 12, c) ACDIS 2000 using Re-code 23
Notes: 1 The 10% sample of the 1996 Census is available only in five-year age groups. 2 Recode-1 classifies women resident in the second round of ACDIS (2000) as ‘living together’ providing that they are not currently married (never married, widowed, divorced and separated), and their partner was a member of the same household (resident or non-resident). 3 Recode-2 classifies women as ‘living together’ only if they are not currently married and have a co-resident partner in the same household.
Figure 1
Figure 1. Distribution of ever marriage by sex and age, ACDIS 2000 and 2006
Figure 2
Figure 2. Partnership patterns by age and sex, ACDIS population 2000 and 2006 1
1 At each routine household visit, ACDIS records one partnership pattern for each person. A hierarchy is used to code people with concurrent relationships. Currently married people are assigned as having a marital partner and are not asked about regular or casual partners. For unmarried people, a regular partner is preferentially recorded over any concurrent casual partner(s).
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