Definition
Representation
| Data Type | Number |
|---|---|
| Format | N |
| Maximum character length | 1 |
Values
| Value | Meaning | Start Date | End Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permissible Values | 1 | Never married | ||
| 2 | Widowed | |||
| 3 | Divorced | |||
| 4 | Separated | |||
| 5 | Married (registered and defacto) | |||
| Supplementary Values | 9 | Not stated/inadequately described |
Comments
Guide for use:
Refers to the current marital status of a person. Therefore if a person has been divorced but has since re-married, then they should be recorded as 5. Married.
The category Married (registered and de facto) should be generally accepted as applicable to all de facto couples, including of the same sex.
Comments:
ABS standards (see ABS: Directory of Concepts and Standards for Social, Labour and Demographic statistics) identify two concepts of marital status:
- registered marital status - defined as whether a person has, or has had, a legally registered marriage;
- social marital status - based on a person's living arrangements (including de-facto marriages), as reported by the person.
ABS recommends that the social marital status concept be collected when information on marital status is sought, whereas the registered marital status concept need only be collected where it is specifically required for the purposes of the collection and only in areas of consent if necessary. Most community services data collections ask clients to self-report their marital status. Hence, the operative concept is one of social marital status.
References
This content Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Attribution provided as required under the AIHW CC-BY licence.
Related content
| Relation | Count |
|---|---|
| Data Elements implementing this Value Domain | 1 |