Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have suggested that the majority adults in Britain are single, 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 individuals living as a pair (either as legal partners or just cohabiting) was 60.5 per cent for everybody over 16, although there was great variability by age group. 1 / 4 (25.1 per cent) of 16 to 29 yr olds were living as couples, while greater than 70 per cent of those aged 30 to 64 were living as couples.
The figures also showed an increase within the variety of adults who’ve never married or entered a civil partnership. Over a 3rd (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 on the Marriage Foundation, said, “Today’s bleak and disheartening figures from the ONS show that the proportion of the adult population who’re married continues to fall and stays below 50 per cent.
“This is the continuation of a really slow long-term downtrend that began within the Nineteen Seventies, which has seen the overwhelming majority of the wealthy proceed to marry, while lower than half of those in the bottom socio-economic group wed, and within the poorest group, lower than one in five do.”
Benson called on the federal government to place an end to policies that put people off marriage, particularly the removal of advantages for individuals who marry.
He added that marriage was shown to extend the likelihood of a pair staying together.
“The fact is that the psychology involved within the act of marriage helps couples need to make their relationship work. The most up-to-date studies show that UK parents are significantly more prone to stay together in the event that they are married, no matter background.”
He concluded, “Marriage could also be no guarantee, but it surely stacks the chances in your favour. Divorce rates are at their lowest because the Nineteen Seventies. 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 information is easy. If you wish to stay together, get married.”
 Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have suggested that the majority adults in Britain are single, news which the Marriage Foundation...){kind=link}