Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have suggested that most adults in Britain are unmarried, news which the Marriage Foundation has described as “bleak and disheartening”.
The ONS said that in 2024 the proportion of those aged 16 and over who were married or in a civil partnership was 49.5 per cent, down from 51.5 per cent in 2014.
The percentage of people living as a couple (either as legal partners or simply cohabiting) was 60.5 per cent for everyone over 16, although there was great variability by age group. A quarter (25.1 per cent) of 16 to 29 year olds were living as couples, while more than 70 per cent of those aged 30 to 64 were living as couples.
The figures also showed a rise in the number of adults who have never married or entered a civil partnership. Over a third (36.8 per cent) of those aged 16 and over have never been married as of 2024, up from 33.9 per cent in 2014.
Reacting to the news, Harry Benson, Research Director at the Marriage Foundation, said, “Today's bleak and disheartening figures from the ONS show that the proportion of the adult population who are married continues to fall and remains below 50 per cent.
“This is the continuation of a very slow long-term downtrend that began in the 1970s, which has seen the overwhelming majority of the rich continue to marry, while less than half of those in the lowest socio-economic group wed, and in the poorest group, less than one in five do."
Benson called on the government to put an end to policies that put people off marriage, particularly the removal of benefits for those who marry.
He added that marriage was shown to increase the likelihood of a couple staying together.
“The fact is that the psychology involved in the act of marriage helps couples want to make their relationship work. The most recent studies show that UK parents are significantly more likely to stay together if they are married, regardless of background."
He concluded, “Marriage may be no guarantee, but it stacks the odds in your favour. Divorce rates are at their lowest since the 1970s. Yet record levels of family breakdown have been driven mostly by the collapse of relationships that never formalised through marriage or civil partnership. The message from psychology and the data is simple. If you want to stay together, get married.”
