Divorce rate for heterosexual couples hits 45-year low, figures show

Opposite-sex couples divorcing at lowest rate since 1973 after figure drops by 6 per cent in a year

May Bulman
Social Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday 26 September 2018 13:09 BST
Comments
 Unreasonable behaviour was the most common reason given by opposite- and same-sex couples
Unreasonable behaviour was the most common reason given by opposite- and same-sex couples

The divorce rate for heterosexual couples in England and Wales has hit a 45-year low, new figures show.

There were 8.4 divorces of opposite-sex couples per 1,000 married men and women in 2017, representing the lowest rates since 1973 and a 6 per cent decrease from 2016, data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.

But experts cautioned that the decrease is largely due to the fact that fewer couples are choosing to get married.

Divorce rates between same-sex couples have meanwhile surged, increasing more than threefold in a year, from 112 to 228. Three quarters of those were between female couples.

Among heterosexual couples, the divorce rate was highest among men aged between 45 and 49 years, and women aged 40 to 44 years. The average duration of marriage at the time of divorce was 12 years for opposite-sex couples.

Unreasonable behaviour was the most common reason given by opposite-sex couples divorcing, with 52 per cent of wives and 37 per cent of husbands petitioning on these grounds.

It was also the most common reason for same-sex couples divorcing, accounting for 83 per cent of divorces among women and 73 per cent among men.

The findings come after divorce rates began to rise in the 1960s before hitting an all-time high in 1993.

Frank Young, head of family policy at the Centre for Social Justice said that while the drop in divorce rates might seem like a reason to celebrate, "it is nothing of the sort".

“All this shows is the ongoing decline in couples choosing to get married, which means overall there are fewer couples to divorce," he said.

“Marriage brings with it stability, which means there are more likely to be two parents at home than one facing life’s challenges. What these numbers don’t tell us is the ‘marriage gap’ around modern marriage data.

“Marriage is increasingly a middle-class perk with 87 per cent of higher earners Getting married compared to only 24 per cent of lower earners.”

The new figures come after research by the Marriage Foundation showed that the number of couples divorcing after three years of marriage had dropped by half over the last 25 years.

For couples married for five years, the rate was down by over a third (39 per cent), and by a fifth in couples who had been together for a decade, according to the data.

Harry Benson, research director of Marriage Foundation, said that while it was "excellent news" that marriages were increasingly "stable", concerns should focus on the growing number of people who do not marry before having children.

"While the odds of staying together are improving dramatically among those who marry, the odds of splitting up remains alarmingly high among those who don’t," he said.

“Of parents who remain intact until their child’s fifteenth birthday, 93 per cent are married. Non-married relationships that last the course are great, but they are sadly fleetingly rare.

“The commitment required to get married works in keeping couples together during the rough times that occur in any relationship. Marriage is the single most effective antidote to family breakdown."

Nicola Haines, from the ONS, said: “Divorce rates are around forty per cent lower than their peak in 1993.

“However, among older people rates are actually higher in 2017 than in 1993 – perhaps due to the fact we have an increasingly ageing population and people are getting married later in life. The number of divorces among same-sex couples more than trebled between 2016 and 2017 – although this is not surprising since marriages of same-sex couples have only been possible in England and Wales since March 2014."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in