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

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · May 4, 2026 · 1m · transcript

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…