I do, but do we? Australian attitudes towards marriage

Australians are keen to find a life partner, but when it comes down to marriage, different generations have very different attitudes.

A new survey conducted by RSVP Date of the Nation shows that just 41 per cent of singles want to get married; however, Generation Y singles are keener to say “I do” than the older generations.

67 per cent of Gen Y said they want to get married; this was almost double that of Gen X – only 39 per cent of respondents said they wanted to tie the knot. Only 12 per cent of Baby Boomers said they want to get married.

Why marry?

As for our views on marriage, Generation Y is again more optimistic: 67 per cent of Gen Y respondents see marriage as a “valid and important social institution”, compared to 54 per cent for Gen X and 44 per cent of Baby Boomers. Overall, 56 per cent of singles hold this view that marriage is important to society.

There’s also significant pressure to marry, the survey finds. 52 per cent of respondents reported that they feel expected to marry, and 55 per cent feel that they are expected to have children. However, parenting arrangements for some of these future parents may prove difficult: 35 per cent of those surveyed said they would have a child out of wedlock.

Finding ‘The One’

While not all Australians believe in marriage, 58 per cent still want to “spend the rest of their lives with the one”. And when it comes to our overall attitudes towards marriage, women want to get married more than men:  on average, 9.7 per cent more single women than men want to find the one and spend their lives together, see marriage as an important institution, and want to declare their love at the altar.

Do you believe marriage is an important social institution?