LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of couples in England and Wales who are married or in legal partnerships has fallen for the first time to less than half of the adult population, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
According to the ONS, married or civil-partnered couples remained the most common legal partnership status in Britain, but the proportion of people who opt for such commitments has dropped from 51.5 percent in 2014 to 49.5 percent in 2024.
The proportion decreased most notably among those aged 25 to 34 years and 55 to 69 years compared with 2014, added the ONS.
The Marriage Foundation, a charity set up in 2012 to promote marriage, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that "this depressing trend will continue until government policy or social culture starts to prioritize marriage once again."
Meanwhile, the number of cohabiting couples - meaning those who are living together but not married or in legal partnerships - is on the rise, reaching 60.5 percent of the adult population in 2024.
Harry Benson, research director at the Marriage Foundation, told Xinhua that the figures reflect "the continuation of a very slow long-term downtrend that began in the 1970s, which has seen the rich continue to marry, while less than half of those in the lowest socio-economic group wed, and in the poorest, less than one in five do."
Benson said: "The most recent studies show that UK parents are significantly more likely to stay together if they are married, regardless of background. So marriage keeps couples out of poverty. And yet our perverse welfare policy penalizes couples who marry by removing their benefits."
"Record levels of family breakdown have been driven mostly by the collapse of relationships that were never formalized through marriage or civil partnership. The message from psychology and the data is simple: if you want to stay together, get married," he said. ■
