Humanist weddings boast lower divorce rate than other ceremonies

Scottish couples who tie the knot in humanist weddings are almost four times less likely to divorce than those who choose other types of ceremonies, like religious or civil.

New figures show that people who wed in the non-religious ceremonies have a greater chance of staying together than couples who marry in Roman Catholic, Church of Scotland and civil ceremonies.

Humanist weddings have been legal in Scotland since 2005 and are now more popular than Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic weddings combined. They have not been legalised in England and Wales.

Statistics from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) show couples married in humanist ceremonies were three times less likely to divorce than Roman Catholic marriages, more than two times less likely to divorce than Church of Scotland marriages and almost four times less likely to divorce than those wed in civil marriages.

An analysis of divorce rates for 2017-18 showed that for marriages that have taken place in the past five years, humanist weddings had a divorce rate of 1.7 in every 1,000, whereas civil ceremonies were 7.3.

The Church of Scotland divorce rate for marriages less than five years old was 5.8 in 1,000 and for Roman Catholic weddings it was five.

The figures were obtained from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) in a freedom of information request from Humanists UK.

Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, said: “These figures show what a good start for couples a humanist wedding can be and they deserve a lot of attention.”