Romance is breaking down
racial barriers in South Africa with a sharp rise in interethnic marriage and
relationships in the last decade but white people remain the most segregated.
The SA is becoming a racial melting pot with a
surge in the number of relationships and marriages across ethnic dividing lines
in the last decade, according to official figures but while the number of
people from black, Asian and mixed-race backgrounds settling down with someone
from another group have all risen, white people remain by far the most
segregated on the domestic front.
The mixed-race population is also much younger than
the wider population – almost half are under 16 compared with only 19 per cent
overall.
Overall almost one in 10 people living in South
Africa are married to or living with someone from outside their own ethnic
group, the analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows.But the
overall figure conceals wide variations. Only one in 25 white people have
settled down with someone from outside their own racial background.
By contrast 85 per cent of people from mixed-race
families have themselves set up home with someone from another group.
People from an African background are five and a
half times as likely to be in a mixed relationship as white people, while those
of Indian ancestry are three times as likely.
Age is the crucial factor with those in their 20s
and 30s more than twice as likely to be living with someone from another background
as those over 65, reflecting a less rigid approach to identity over time.But
the figures also shows marked differences in attitudes to outsiders within
different communities – often reflected in the whether people are married or cohabiting.
For example, in the Benoni community, those who are
cohabiting are seven times more likely to be with someone from another
background as those who are married.
It suggests that cultural barriers still make it
more difficult for those in inter-ethnic relationships to formalise their
status by marriage.
But the fact that those in mixed relationships are
overall 50 per cent more likely to be cohabiting than married also reflects the
shift away from marriage among younger people.
The contrast between white people and other
communities echoes the findings of the Social Integration Commission, a study
published earlier this week, which showed that white people are the least
integrated with other groups in their social lives.
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