London (PA media/dpa) – Marriage rates for opposite-sex couples in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest levels on record, figures show.
Data from the Office for National Statistics, published on Tuesday, show that in 2018 marriage rates for heterosexual couples were at 20.1 marriages per 1,000 unmarried men and 18.6 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women. These are the lowest rates in the ONS data going back to 1862.
The figures also show there were 227,870 heterosexual marriages in 2018, the lowest number since the 226,449 recorded in 1894.
The ONS said that the number of opposite-sex marriages had fallen by 47 per cent since 1972, while marriage rates have fallen by more than three-quarters for men at 76 per cent and by 71 per cent for women.
This long-term decline was likely to be as a result of more men and women delaying marriage or couples choosing to cohabit instead, it added.
Kanak Ghosh, of the ONS’ vital statistics outputs branch, said: «Marriage rates for opposite-sex couples were the lowest on record in 2018, while the total number of marriages fell for the third consecutive year.
«This continues the gradual long-term decline in both numbers and rates since the early 1970s.
«Despite this overall decline, more people are choosing to get married at older ages, particularly those aged 65 and over.
«This is the fifth year since same-sex marriages have been possible and around one in 35 marriages are now among same-sex couples.»
But Harry Benson, research director of the Marriage Foundation, said the figures looked worse because of the increase in marriages in 2016 and 2017.
He added: «This decline also needs to be set in context.
«The divorce rate is at its lowest level in 30 years, suggesting those who get married are much more likely to stick together and marriage remains the most stable form of relationship, especially when you factor in children.»
There were 234,795 marriages in England and Wales in 2018, a drop of 3 per cent on the previous year and the lowest number since 2009.
There were 6,925 marriages between same-sex couples in 2018, with 57 per cent between female couples, while a further 803 same-sex couples converted their civil partnership into a marriage, the ONS said.
In 2018 the average age at marriage for opposite-sex couples was 38.1 years for men and 35.8 years for women, while for same-sex couples the average ages at marriage were 40.4 years and 36.9 years respectively.
Religious ceremonies accounted for about one in five (21 per cent) opposite-sex marriages in 2018, the lowest on record, and 0.9 per cent of same-sex marriages.
This has dropped steadily over time the ONS said, with religious ceremonies accounting for 85 per cent of all marriages in 1900.
By 1980 this had fallen to 50 per cent and since 1992 civil marriages have increasingly outnumbered religious marriages every year, the ONS said.
Alice Rogers, a senior associate with Hall Brown Family Law, said that the figures underlined a shift in the attitudes of couples.
She added: «The increase in cohabitation makes clear that men and women are still establishing settled relationships but don’t feel the need for the formality and expense associated with marriage.
«Couples now place a greater premium on investing the kind of sums which they might once have spent on their wedding day putting down a deposit on a home instead.
«The fact that the fall in marriage numbers predates the Covid pandemic would indicate that we will see an even more severe drop because people could not marry at all.»
