MARRIAGE rates in England and Wales in 2022 returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found. Its latest statistics, released last week, include data for 2021 and 2022; comparisons with the 2019 information are also made.
In 2022, there have been 246,897 marriages in England and Wales: a rise of 12.3 per cent from 219,850 in 2019. Of those, the variety of same-sex marriages was 15.9 per cent higher (7800, up from 6728 in 2019). Opposite-sex marriages in 2022 numbered 239,097: 12.2 per cent greater than 2019 (213,122).
“These increases could also be a results of delayed marriages due to pandemic,” the ONS has noted, on condition that the general variety of marriage rates per 1000 has continued to say no over the past five a long time.
In 2022, 17 per cent of marriages (41,915) were religious ceremonies, and 83 per cent were civil ceremonies, the latter increasing steadily over time; half of marriages (50.4 per cent) in 1992 were civil ceremonies. The statistics don’t differentiate between Christian weddings and people of other faiths; nor do they indicate where a wedding ceremony could also be followed by any type of a Christian service, comparable to a blessing, thanksgiving, or dedication.
The Church of England’s Statistics for Mission 2022, produced by Dr Ken Eames and the Data Services team, found that “the variety of marriages in 2022 was very much like the number in 2019, and 18 per cent higher than in 2021”.
The 2023 report suggests that somewhere “within the region of 10,000-15,000 weddings didn’t happen in churches due to pandemic”.
For the C of E, 31,400 marriages and services of prayer and dedication after civil marriage were recorded in 2022. The Mission Statistics don’t separate weddings in church and services after a civil ceremony, but note that “services of prayer and dedication after civil marriage made up 7.5 per cent of the full in 2022”. This implies that there have been 29,045 church weddings and 2355 post-civil ceremony services.
Comparing these with the general total of 41,915 religious weddings in 2022 published by the ONS, it may possibly be seen that 69.3 per cent (29,045) were Anglican and undertaken in a spot of worship. The figure rises to 75 per cent when adding services related to a civil ceremony.
Of the 7800 same-sex marriages in 2022 (3.2 per cent of all marriages), 4896 were all-female, the best proportion since same-sex marriage was legalised in 2014.
The average age at which individuals get married has increased once more. The median age was 32.7 years for men and 31.2 years for girls getting into an opposite-sex marriage (and first legal partnership), each the best ages on record. For a same-sex marriage (and first legal partnership), the ages for men and ladies were also higher, at 36.2 years and 32.6 years respectively.
Saturday stays the preferred day to get married: 43.6 per cent of all weddings in 2022 took place on that day. In recent years, the last Saturday in July or the primary Saturday in September have been the preferred days. The hottest day in 2022 was Saturday 30 July, with a complete of 3608 weddings. By contrast, Christmas Day saw three weddings, making it the least popular day to get married.
Areas that had the most important percentage changes within the variety of marriages between 2019 and 2022 were Monmouthshire, where marriages increased by 67.4 per cent, and Haringey, where marriages fell by 51.1 per cent. The south-east was the region where the best proportion (16.4 per cent) of marriages took place in England and Wales in 2022; the identical region as in 2019.
A research director on the Marriage Foundation, Harry Benson, said: “Although marriage rates have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, there stays a major shortfall over the combined three-year period 2020 to 2022. None of the three established parties has anything to say about marriage of their manifesto. Who will champion marriage in the subsequent Parliament?”
