Overseas couples match NZ couples in same-sex marriages

Overseas couples match New Zealand couples in same-sex marriages

3 May 2017

Half of all same-sex marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand in 2016 were couples living overseas, compared with 11 percent of opposite-sex couples, Stats NZ said today.

"Couples from Australia accounted for 58 percent of overseas same-sex couples coming here to marry," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said. "A further 17 percent came from China."

Twenty-one percent of same-sex couples from overseas had one or both partners born in New Zealand, compared with 56 percent of opposite-sex couples.

In 2016, 483 New Zealand resident couples and 471 overseas resident couples celebrated same-sex marriages or civil unions.

A further 19,752 New Zealand resident couples and 2,490 overseas resident couples celebrated opposite-sex marriages or civil unions.

For all registrations (overseas and resident couples combined), most chose to register a marriage rather than a civil union (23,136 marriages compared with 60 civil unions).

See Marriages, Civil Unions, and Divorces: Year ended December 2016 for more information.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Marriages Civil Unions and Divorces: Year ended December 2016

• See CSV files for download

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