Ryan Bridge: What's the secret to a good marriage?

Ryan Bridge: What's the secret to a good marriage?

From Early Edition with Ryan Bridge by Newstalk ZB

May 4, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

Ryan Bridge discusses the changing trends in marriage and divorce rates based on new statistics from Stats NZ.

What are your chances of getting divorced? The new Stats NZ numbers are interesting for a couple of reasons.  1. Fewer people are getting hitched. In 2025, 7.6 marriages per 1000 people. That's half of the rate in 2000 (15.5 per 1000). In 1971, peak marriage, it was 45 per 1000 people.  So basically, fewer of us are bothering to get married. I've got friends who are single and don't mind being single - that was far less acceptable in 1971.  2. We're getting married later in life. We used to put a ring on it around the age of 20, now we wait until we're into our thirties. This is part of a bigger trend. People still live at home with their parents when their 25 - it's common. They go to university, don't get proper jobs until they're sometimes in their late 20's or even early thirties. We're living longer at the other end of life, and it feels like we're stretching out childhood a bit at the beginning, too. Get a dog, live at home, complain about house prices, and then marry later.  3. Divorce is the most interesting part. If you're in a marriage and you're wondering whether you might get a divorce then I reckon you probably will. Otherwise…

People in this episode

Host: Ryan Bridge

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stats NZ

More episodes of Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge podcast page.