The report provides information on Marriages and Divorces for 2002. There was a total of 177 202 marriages registered in 2002 compared to the total of 134 581 in 2001. For Divorces there was a total of 31 370 in 2002  compared to 34 045 in 2001.

In  2002  the total  number  of  officially  recorded  marriages  for  South  Africa was 177 202.   The crude marriage rate for 2002 for registered marriages was 390 per 100 000 of the population.  The crude marriage rates by province shows that Western Cape had the highest crude marriage rate (621 per 100 000 of the population), Gauteng had the second highest rate (556 per 100 000 of the population), followed by Free State (464 per 100 000 of the population). Limpopo had the lowest rate (257 per 100 000 of the population). The low rate in Limpopo could be explained by the fact that unregistered customary and traditional marriages mostly occur in this largely rural province.

Divorce  is  the  conclusive  act  of  dissolution  of  a marriage, and  in 2002 a total  of 31 370 divorces were recorded in South Africa compared to the 34 045 in 2001. The modified divorce rate for South Africa was 526 per 100 000 married couples.  The provinces with the highest modified divorce rates were Gauteng (2 537 per 100 000 married couples), followed by Eastern Cape (1 528 per 100 000 married couples) and KwaZulu-Natal (830 per 100 000 married couples). Limpopo had the lowest crude divorce rate at 19 divorces per 100 000 married couples.