The Civil Union Act 2004 came into force on 26 April 2005 and the first ceremonies were celebrated on 29 April 2005 . This Act introduced a new form of legal relationship. Two people, whether of opposite or the same sex, can enter into a civil union provided they are not currently married to or in a civil union with someone else. A couple who are currently married can transfer their relationship to a civil union. An opposite-sex couple in a civil union can transfer their relationship to a marriage. As in the past, a same-sex couple cannot enter into a marriage.
In recognition of public interest in the progress of civil union registrations, Statistics New Zealand is releasing provisional quarterly data for civil unions and marriages. The data includes the number of registrations by relationship type. No other civil union or marriage data is available before the official release of annual data via the Marriages, Civil Unions and Divorces information release.
Provisional quarterly data will be available within five weeks of the end of the quarter. The provision of this data will be reviewed periodically.
Tables
The downloadable files are in Microsoft Excel format. If you do not have access to Excel you may use the Excel file viewer to view, print and export the contents of this file.
Updated: 3 May 2012