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The Guardian
13 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Australia's divorce rate is lowest on record and marriages are lasting longer, according to ABS data
Divorce rates are the lowest on record and marriages are lasting longer, according to new data that reflects an increasingly selective approach to marriage and the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2024 marriages and divorces figures, released on Wednesday, reflect a downward trajectory of both marriage and divorce rates over the past two decades. But within the data lies a case for romance: while fewer people were getting married, marriages were both lasting longer and less likely to end in divorce. In 2004, the marriage rate – measured per 1,000 residents over the age of 16 – was 7.1. Twenty years later, in 2024, the rate was 5.5, the same as the year before. Last year, Australia's divorce rate was 2.1, down from 2.3 in 2023. The number of divorces fell 3% from 2023 to 2024. Meanwhile, marriages lasted for a median of 13.2 years – up from 12.1 in 2020 and 13 last year. At the same time, we're marrying and getting divorced later in life. In 2024, the median marriage age was 32.8 years for men and 31.2 for women. The median age for men to divorce was 47.1 years, while for women it was 44.1. And, while younger couples were divorcing less, divorces in the above 60 age category were rising. Sign up: AU Breaking News email There were 2% more marriages in 2024 compared to the year before – a figure that doubled to 4.1% for couples of the same or non-binary gender. More same-sex female couples were married and divorced than male couples, while same-sex and non-binary divorces were slightly up from 1.4% of all divorces in 2023 to 1.6% in 2024. Steep declines then a spike in marriage rates from 2020 to 2022 were a direct impact of Covid restrictions, while the pandemic saw a spike in divorce rates in 2021. Lauren Moran, the head of health and vital statistics at the ABS, said the changing divorce rate was 'a complex picture' but '2024 saw the lowest divorce rate recorded'. She said divorce rates were heavily impacted by court administrative processes and that while the number of divorces granted was between 47,000 and 50,000 a year in recent years, fewer marriages meant there were fewer divorces. 'We are seeing declining divorce rates in younger couples, but increasing divorce rates in older couples. When marriages decreased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, the largest decreases were in marriages of younger people,' she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Older couples were more likely to have a longer marriage, which impacted the median length of marriage, she said. She said there was 'no clear pattern in same-gender divorce rates yet' and that the increases were 'small numbers'. Dr Jan Kabatek, a senior research fellow the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, said the declining divorce rate reflected a more selective approach to marriage. 'Fewer people are getting married and the people who are getting married are usually the ones who are more committed, either through religion or because they are older and more experienced,' he said. He said the pandemic continued to contribute to a lower divorce rate. 'The people who might have got divorced in 2023/2024 already got divorced during Covid,' he said. 'If a lot of people call it quits in 2021, the couples who survived later also have longer marriage durations. Fundamentally, the pool of people who remain married has changed.' He also commented on the most popular day to marry, according to the ABS: 1,773 marriages took place on 24/02/2024. His own research on marriages on 'specifically pleasing dates' found those unions were 25% more likely to end in divorce. The statistics align with an Australian Institute of Family Studies report that in February found the divorce rate had in 2023 fallen to its lowest level since the implementation of the 1975 Family Law Act.
Khaleej Times
6 days ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
From soap operas to Instagram reels: Have we lost the plot on love and marriage?
Between the Asiatic cholera and the Covid pandemic, another scourge that had afflicted the subcontinent was the television soap opera . The typical symptoms of the contagion that hit every household in the region, irrespective of religion and social status, included nausea, vomiting, and headache among others. A venomous mother-in-law, and a slew of daughters-in-law battling each other to win her over and snatch the key to power and richness hanging from the chatelaine of the lady of the house. The victims, or martyrs, in the conflict that rocks the haveli from the very first episode to the last over several years, include DILs who self-immolate, hapless sons who shoot own mums, and revengeful sisters-in-law setting fire to the kitchen, et al. Fast forward to another decade, we have had a series of mythological productions where deities, demons and even biblical characters used drone-like machines to kill dragons and snakes, fired fake patriotic missiles and threw fake rocks and even mountains made of cardboard. Those were the days of 24 carat harmony with the have-nots who couldn't afford to buy the idiot box crammed into the living room of any good neighbour to watch those mega serials. The Muslims opened their doors to the Hindus and the Hindus to the Christians and the Christians to the Dalits so that no Indian was left out of the last bus to salvation. Then came the era of the smart phone which offered a handy alternative to the television. Movie clips to soundtracks to falsehoods were watched and shared by millions in a few seconds. Social media, even at its nascent stage, turned out to be more contagious and deadlier than the Covid pandemic. The elixir to all maladies that have afflicted humankind — samples of Ganga jal to zamzam and the holy water blessed by a priest in St Peter's Basilica in Rome— were bottled and sold through social media. Greedy humans mint and lose money on the platforms. Love is pronounced and divorces are handed through social media. Life is at the mercy of digital creators like Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Coming to this moment, when I write this column with no help from ChatGPT or DeepSeek or Copilot, humans are entertained, educated and serenaded by reels of few seconds. Corporate marketing to financial tips, movie to tech reviews, infotainment to terror classes, and philosophies to literature were reeled out by those who haven't even stepped into the corridors of knowledge in a university. Some uncanny real estate influencers lead you to bankruptcies, some yesteryear stars promoting shortcuts to richness show you the door to hell, self-styled literati rendering verses of love push you down the nunatak of romance, and self-styled educators promoting unlisted unis abroad shut the doors of knowledge on unscrupulous youngsters. The reel-o-mania is so deep-rooted in every stratum of society it sucks the juice of life from the veins of a civilisation. Yours truly, who typically hits the bed past 2am, now wakes up before sunrise and lies down on a recliner to watch reels about key institutions that make up a perfect marriage. Not because I am going to a divorce attorney tomorrow morning, but because I am aghast at the negative campaigns these influencers have embarked on. To me about 90 per cent of reels that come up on my screen make a mockery of marriage, mostly painting the female partners in bad shades. They are invariably portrayed as wicked, power-hungry, money-minded, plotters and dumbos whereas the men are clever, hardworking breadwinners and loving and caring yet victims of a one-sided game called marriage. The same old soap opera of patriarchy and misogyny. Like my colleague Karishma asked me the other day, why is the universe plotting against the institution of marriage? It's a sacred union of two minds solemnised to last forever and ever, regardless of what they are. It's on the partners to work towards becoming inseparable soulmates or to make amends to live and let live under one roof as best friends. It's small things that make a successful marriage: Respect for each other's personality, giving and taking the much-craved-for freedom and space, being there for each other and being the first to wipe each other's tears and share each other's joy. And the rest, as they always say, is love and luck. And there's this new breed of love-fluencers who eulogise hearts that never unite. They celebrate and cherish failed romance as the one that is heavenly. As if the planet is like a pigeon-hole too small to accommodate genuine love. But there are some geniuses like India's 'spoken word artist' Shachi Pathak whose rendering of a verse transports me to a different world. She prefers love to be nipped in the bud in order to preserve its purity, sanity and sanctity. Like a stillborn child. The verse serenades me into a trance where the Father sprinkles holy water in Commendation of the Dying of a big dream. In the hope of a second coming. Amen!
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Staff need a place they trust': how to instil a workplace culture in a fast-changing world
A workplace culture isn't just about an organisation's stated values – it's also about the processes that make those values tangible. In other words, how stuff gets done. Before today's era of hybrid and flexible working, employees tended to absorb their workplace culture almost by osmosis. 'You'd be living and breathing it five days a week,' says Nish Chowdhury of the marketing agency Oliver. As the agency's global director of people systems and operations, Chowdhury has had to grapple with the dramatic upheaval in working practices of recent years. While the shift started with the global work-from-home experiment that many companies underwent during the Covid pandemic, it has continued apace. 'Covid really put a spanner in the works in terms of how we see company culture,' says Chowdhury. A workplace culture is now harder to absorb, especially for new hires. And it isn't just about people's physical presence: the pace of business and technological change has also accelerated. The constant upheaval makes it that much harder to instil a corporate culture. Employees might find themselves suffering from 'change fatigue' or feel overwhelmed by technology and the numerous apps, platforms and information sources they now have to work with. For some businesses, the questions of culture and change management have grown increasingly intertwined. On top of this, the geopolitical environment is a lot less stable than it used to be, which has fed through into the economy. In such a fluid business environment, company culture is more important than ever. It binds employees together, ensures shared values and goals, and keeps everyone engaged and motivated. So how do you instil a workplace culture in today's fast-changing world – and make it easier for a distributed workforce to acquire? In broad terms, managers now need to make their workplace culture more obvious and intentional. For instance, they can try to articulate the culture more explicitly. This doesn't necessarily have to entail formally codifying every aspect of your workplace culture – there are human ways to do it, such as demonstrating the culture and building processes around it, or publicly recognising employees and actions that best embody it. Managers can also try to express their workplace culture more frequently, and make it more ubiquitous. Technology can help here. Chowdhury highlights how her agency adopted a new HR system that can be configured to reinforce the company's culture. 'We have customised our [HR portal] homepage so employees are exposed to our culture wherever they're logging on from,' she says. 'It might be adding our values or mantras, having hosted videos or branded experiences.' The idea, she explains, is that no matter where you are, you feel connected to the company. 'People are on their phones a lot and so you give them mobile access to the business.' The system used by her agency is Sage People, an HR solution. Steve Watmore, HR and payroll product manager at software company Sage, says these features and personalised experiences can be particularly crucial when companies are onboarding new starters, as it isn't always possible to physically get new hires in for face-to-face time. 'The question becomes: 'How do you create that culture of welcoming people in and starting the kind of conversations that bring teams together?'' he says. However, it's not just about having the right technology: you also need to make it easy to use. One way of doing this is by providing staff with a one-stop shop – a single point of contact – instead of having numerous apps and platforms that result in a very fragmented experience. Lampros Sekliziotis, a product leader at Sage, says having a single self-service portal for employees is key. 'Everything feels easy and smooth. You log on to your phone and you're immersed in the company.' Technology solutions such as Sage People can also help companies improve their workplace culture by breaking down barriers to connecting – for instance, making it easier to synchronise meetings and schedule in-office days. Sekliziotis says that for remote workers you can also emulate some of the feel of a physical workspace. 'You have interactions that would normally happen in the office – so you make them happen in the flow of work.' All this helps to make people feel more part of the business – and it helps the business run as a more cohesive whole. Moreover, the portals can be personalised and tailored to the needs of individual teams, geographies and so on. There are many other benefits. In a world where fake news is rife and can damage company culture and morale, having a single reliable portal that staff can go to for facts is increasingly important. 'You want staff to have a place they trust that they can go to if they need information,' says Chowdhury. However, workplace culture isn't just something that comes from the top down. It's always been a two-way process that is also shaped by employees. This has become increasingly true with social media and digital communication. Traditionally, employees had a chance to give their own views and feedback with annual satisfaction surveys. But once a year is far from ideal in today's world. Tools such as employee pulse surveys – short, quick surveys that are sent to employees on a regular basis – are becoming increasingly important as they allow HR managers to spot changes and issues quickly and take action to maintain employee engagement and satisfaction. Sage People therefore incorporates pulse surveys and other similar features as a built-in function. 'It's about getting real-time feedback from the employees,' says Watmore. He notes that the employee induction process is an example of how useful this can be. 'Maybe at the end of onboarding you can send a survey to the new hires to ask them how the process went. Did you find something that they didn't like?' The next round of new hires can benefit from this feedback. Going forward, more sophisticated data analytics and, increasingly, AI mean that companies will be able to use platforms to generate ever-more useful cultural insights from the information they hold. Thus, the future of company culture is a sophisticated, ongoing tech-enabled conversation that delivers a better workplace for everyone. Discover more about how to instil a workplace culture to your business
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Little-known signs of world's most infectious disease EVERYONE must know - as pandemic health chief issues chilling warning
The warning signs of measles have been highlighted as a top scientist has raised the alarm on declining vaccination rates. Science minister Lord Vallance of Balham warned that parents had forgotten just how deadly the world most contagious infection was before the invention of vaccines. 'People have forgotten that measles kills. They think, "Oh, measles—that's a pretty benign disease". It's benign because we've got vaccination', Lord Vallance told The Times. The 65-year-old added that to see people—most often children—die from entirely preventable disease was 'tragic'. 'People used to have 12 children because they knew five were going to die. It just doesn't happen like that anymore and vaccination has been a really major, major part of it,' he said. Measles usually starts with flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough and runny nose and is often followed by a tell-tale rash which starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body. But it can trigger more serious and even fatal health complications if it spreads to the lungs or the brain. The incredibly contagious disease can infect 9 in 10 unvaccinated children in a classroom if just one classmate is infectious. One in five children who catch the disease will be hospitalised, according to estimates, with one in 15 developing life-threatening complications like meningitis or sepsis. Lord Vallance, who became a household name during the Covid pandemic, was speaking in the wake of a surge in measles in England. Measles cases soared in 2024 with 2,911 cases confirmed in England—the highest number on record since 2012—and tragically one death recorded. Despite surging rates of infections uptake of a vaccine designed to protect children against the disease has fallen. Less than 84 per cent of five-year-olds in the nation had both recommended doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab last year. Experts have labelled the figures concerning and urged parents to vaccinate their children to avoid the 'life-long consequences' of potential measles infection. But it's not just the MMR jab. Lord Vallance's warning comes as data shows none of the 14 childhood vaccines offered on the NHS met the 95 per cent uptake target needed for herd immunity. Herd immunity is a public health concept where enough people are vaccinated that it stops diseases spreading rampantly through the population as a whole. Experts have blamed post-pandemic scepticism and vaccine fatigue for the rapidly declining rates, with Vallance also pointing the finger at, now thoroughly debunked, rumours linking the MMR jab to autism for causing 'huge problems around the world'. Now, together with health chiefs, he is urging parents to get their children vaccinated—with two doses of the MMR jab offering up to 99 per cent protection. It comes as concerning figures released last week revealed nearly half of children in some parts of England haven't had both MMR jabs by the time they turn five. Data shows just 52.7 per cent of youngsters that age in Kensington and Chelsea in west London are fully vaccinated. London remains one of the least vaccinated parts of the country—taking up a staggering 19 of the top 20 spots for low MMR jab uptake. Outside of London, Nottingham was worst with just 71.4 per cent of children jabbed. Dr Doug Brown, Chief Executive of the British Society for Immunology, told MailOnline: 'Vaccination is the safest and most effective way to protect your child against measles. 'Measles is a serious disease that can make children very ill and cause life-long consequences. 'In the 2024 measles outbreak in England, 1 in 5 children who contracted the disease needed to be admitted to hospital for treatment. 'To be fully protected against contracting measles, it is essential that children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine at the correct timepoints. 'We need to redouble efforts to implement the NHS Vaccine Strategy and engage with communities to ensure that all children receive the MMR vaccine and are protected against these nasty diseases. 'It is never too late to get vaccinated—if you're concerned that your child has missed out on a vaccination, contact your GP surgery.' Lord Vallance became a household name during the pandemic, appearing next to Boris Johnson and his esteemed colleague Sir Chris Whitty during tense Downing Street briefings to talk the nation through the crisis. But he also earned the nicknamed 'Dr Doom' during the crisis for being the face of bleak projections from scientists.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Un, sea and sand! North Korean dictator launches nation's new beach resorts alongside daughter and rarely-seen wife in bizarre footage aimed to draw in tourists
Kim Jong Un has unveiled North Korea's glitzy new beach resort, touring the development with his wife and daughter, in what is a rare appearance for the dictator's spouse. The hermit kingdom completed construction on the massive tourist resort, which boasts colourful water slides, swimming pools, high-rise hotels and rows of sunbeds, state media reported on Thursday. Development plans for the Wonsan resort have mushroomed since they were first announced in 2014. The holiday destination is a pet project for Kim, but has taken almost six years longer than scheduled to complete after the country was hit hard by the Covid pandemic. Kim was an enthusiastic visitor this week to the sprawling site on the isolated country's east coast, which is set to open its doors on July 1 to domestic tourists and maybe one day foreign ones. Analysts have said Kim showed a keen interest in developing North Korea 's tourism industry in his early years in power, with the development of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area known to be a key focal point. The nuclear-armed North reopened its borders in August 2023 after almost four years, having closed them because of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time even its own nationals were prevented from entering. Foreign tourism was limited though even before the pandemic, with tour companies saying around 5,000 Western tourists visited each year. Kim on Tuesday attended a lavish inaugural ceremony for the tourist zone, which hosts accommodation for nearly 20,000 people and what Pyongyang claims is 'a world-class cultural resort', the Korean Central News Agency said. 'Kim Jong Un expressed belief that the wave of the happiness to be raised in the Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area would enhance its attractive name as a world-level tourist cultural resort', the news outlet added. Photos released by state media showed Kim and his family sitting and watching as a man flies off a water slide. Wonsan Kalma houses 'sea-bathing service facilities, various sports and recreation facilities' and is 'equipped with all conditions... for providing the beauty of the scenic spot on the east coast in all seasons', according to KCNA. Kim, with 'great satisfaction', said the construction of the site would go down as 'one of the greatest successes this year' and that the North would build more large-scale tourist zones 'in the shortest time possible', it added. Kim was joined by his daughter, Ju Ae, who is considered by many experts to be his likely successor. He was also accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, who has not been seen for 17 months. South Korean media reported, based on images released by Pyongyang, that Ju Ae appears to be wearing a Cartier watch - despite such a high-end item being banned from import into North Korea under UN sanctions, imposed in response to the country's nuclear and missile activities. Kim's inspiration for the resort came after his officials were left 'amazed' during a research trip to Spain's Costa Blance in 2017 The North last year permitted Russian tourists to return for the first time since Covid and Western tour operators returned in February this year. Foreign tourists wanting to visit the super secretive North Korea can only do so under a supervised tour, through which guides have complete control over visitors will see. Russia and North Korea have agreed to expand cooperation on tourism, restarting a direct passenger train service between their capitals for the first time since 2020. North Korea's Benidorm-style beach resort has been the dictator's most talked about tourism project since plans for its development were announced in 2015. Boasting 150 buildings, the resort is set to be one of the largest single-operator beach resorts in the world. Plans previously showed that the resort would accommodate up to 100,000 visitors at a time. Kim's inspiration for the resort came after his officials were left 'amazed' during a research trip to Spain's Costa Blanca in 2017.
