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5 March 2007
Auckland
Nearly three quarters of New Zealanders (72%) view marriage as a commitment for life and over half of unmarried New Zealand adults* (58%) say marriage is one of their lifetime goals, a survey released today by The Nielsen Company.
Although divorce rates in New Zealand have slowed, co-habitation and children born to unmarried couples have been on the increase over the past ten years and the Nielsen survey of over 25,000 consumers polled online in 46 countries, including 500 in New Zealand, uncovered some surprising views on what love, romance and marriage really mean in the 21st century.
“In recent decades we’ve seen more couples choosing to live together rather than get married, raising the question of whether the age-old tradition of ‘to have and to hold till death do us part’ is a dying tradition,” said Stephen Mitchell, Managing Director, ACNielsen New Zealand. “These results certainly tell a different story, indicating that the concept of marriage is still very much alive and well.”
But while most Kiwis aspired to marry, there was still a strong backing for co-habitation – nearly two thirds of respondents (64%) considered a stable, long term relationship just as good as marriage.
The vast majority of unmarried New Zealand adults* intended to have children after they married, with only 15 percent saying they did not intend to have kids.
On the effect of relationships on children, Kiwis were less likely than most other nations in the Asia Pacific to acknowledge that separation and divorce impacted on children. Just under one-third of Kiwis (32%) disagreed that children with married parents grow up happier and more stable than children whose parents separate - 14 percentage points higher than the regional average and six points above the global average.
New Zealanders were also the third most likely in the Asia Pacific to support working mothers, with 71 percent disagreeing that mothers with children shouldn’t work.
“Kiwis’ support of working mums reflects the longer term trend for mothers to return to part-time or full-time work following the birth of their kids. This trend is also reflected in the spawning of the multi-billion dollar childcare industry as parents increasingly require long day care for babies and young children, and before and after school care for their older kids,” said Mitchell.
Looking around the world the Nielsen survey results indicated that the concept of marriage was largely dominated by a country’s cultural and religious beliefs, with very opposing views among consumers in the developed West and emerging East.
Muslim and Catholic strongholds in Asia topped global rankings in believing that marriage is for life, lead by Indonesia (97%), Turkey (92%) and The Philippines and Malaysia (both 89%). European nations were most likely to disagree that marriage was a life long commitment. An average of 39 percent of Europeans did not believe marriage was for life, with Spanish (66%), Portuguese (65%), Greek (56%) and Italian (52%) respondents leading the way.
* Responses received from those participants who were unmarried and over the age of 18 at the time of completing the survey.
Chart 1: Kiwi attitude towards marriage and relationships
About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a division of the Nielsen Company, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behaviour. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns. To learn more, visit www.acnielsen.com.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognised brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
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