New Zealand popular destination for same-sex marriages, decade after law change

Same-sex marriages made up 12 per cent of all overseas couples who have married in New Zealand since 2013.

Almost 3000 same-sex couples have come to New Zealand to marry since marriage equality became legal here 10 years ago.

Today marks a decade since the Marriage Amendment Act 2013 came into effect.

According to Stats NZ, between August 19, 2013, and the end of 2022, around 2700 female couples and 1400 male couples who lived in New Zealand were legally married.

Meanwhile, 1600 female couples and 1200 male couples who live overseas have come to Aotearoa to be married.

Louisa Wall is congratulated by Labour leader Davis Shearer and MP Jacinda Ardern after the Marriage Amendment Bill was passed in Parliament in April 2013. Photo / Mark Mitchell

LGBTQIA+ couples from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and the US are among the highest proportion of those living overseas to get married here since 2013.

Same-sex marriages made up 12 per cent of all couples from overseas marrying in New Zealand since 2013.

From 2013 to 2017, an average of 58 per cent of same-sex couples from overseas who married in New Zealand were from Australia.

Australia has remained the country with the highest proportion of same-sex couples coming to New Zealand to marry over the past decade.

That proportion dropped to around 26 per cent after Australia amended its federal Marriage Act on December 9, 2017, to give same-sex couples the right to marry, but the figures for couples from Australia marrying in New Zealand increased again in 2021 and 2022.

Couples from China (including Hong Kong) made up the second-highest proportion of couples coming to New Zealand for same-sex marriage, an average of 22 per cent each year between 2013 and 2019.

They were followed by couples from the United States and the United Kingdom - both 4 per cent.

“Responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, including restrictions on gatherings and border closures, resulted in a decrease in same-sex and opposite-sex marriages in 2020 and 2021, especially for marriages of couples who lived overseas,” Stats NZ insights analyst Rebekah Hennessey said.

Last year, the highest proportion of same-sex couples again came from Australia to marry in New Zealand - 43 per cent of all overseas marriages.

This was followed by Singapore - 15 per cent, China (including Hong Kong), the United States, and the United Kingdom - 8 per cent each.

The Wellington region continues to have the highest proportion of same-sex marriages out of total marriages in New Zealand.

Rachel Briscoe (left) and Jess Ivess, a Paihia couple, married as soon as the new law allowing same-sex marriages took effect. Photo / Stephen Parker

Stats NZ figures show that in 2014, 4 per cent of all marriages to couples living in the Wellington region were same-sex couples. This decreased to 3 per cent by 2022, but it remains the highest across the broad geographic areas.

The South Island, excluding Canterbury, had the lowest proportion of same-sex marriages in 2014, at 1 per cent of all marriages in the area. By 2022, it increased to 2.4 per cent.

Conversely, Canterbury had the lowest proportion in 2022, with 2.1 per cent of all marriages there being same-sex marriages. This was down from 2.7 per cent in 2014.