Abbreviated as MSTP; referenced by 4 other explainers
Registered marital status shows the legal marital status of people aged 15 and over. It sorts them into five groups: Married, Separated, Divorced, Widowed, and Never married.
The figures come from Census data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics collects them.
ABS does not publish a separate Not stated count for registered marital status; non-responses are folded into the published five groups.
This page reports a person's legal status. It is what the law records, not what the person does day to day. So a person separated from a partner but not divorced is counted as Separated. A person living with someone but not legally married is counted as Never married, no matter how long the partnership has lasted. To see the lived-in version of marital status, see the Social marital status page. The two pages tell different stories. They have different totals. Social marital status leaves out people who live alone or with no relationship to anyone in the home.
For cultural and historical reasons, marital status framed in legal terms can sit awkwardly with how some communities understand kinship and partnership. ABS classification follows the legal status reported on Census night; Place Forecast reports what ABS publishes.
The total counts persons aged 15 and over at their place of usual residence. It includes residents of non-private dwellings such as hospitals, aged-care homes, hostels, and student housing. It does not count overseas visitors.
Place Forecast splits each SA1 figure down to mesh blocks and sums them back to the area you see. The downscaling glossary explains the method and its limits.
The total here will be larger than the Social marital status total for the same area. That is by ABS design. Registered marital status records a person's legal status no matter where they live. Social marital status is only recorded for persons whose household position can be classified. It leaves out residents of non-private dwellings (aged care, hospitals, student housing), group households, and visitors.
This total is also smaller than the population aged 15 and over you will see on the population pages. It is an unadjusted Census count, not ERP.
Each marital-status group at the LGA level matches the ABS figure. This is LGA anchoring.
For service choices about one community, read small-area figures as patterns, not exact counts. Check them with community organisations before drawing strong claims.