Wedding bells chime again for the over-50s

REMARRYING among the over-50s is on the rise, despite marriage rates falling to the lowest levels on record.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 239,020 marriages of opposite-sex couples took place in 2015, a 3.4 per cent drop from 2014.

There were 21.7 marriages per thousand unmarried men and thousand unmarried women, the lowest rates since records began in 1862.

But older couples are going against the grain. The number of weddings increased for men aged over 50 and women aged 35 to 39 years and 45 and over, the ONS said.

“In general, marriage rates among older people have been increasing over recent years and falling at younger ages,” the report said.

“Men and women aged under 20 have recorded the largest percentage decrease in marriage rates since 2005 – 56 per cent for men and 66 per cent for women.” Chris Sherwood, of relationship charity Relate, suggested that falling rates among the young could be the result of changing priorities, “such as education, starting a family, buying a house and travelling”.

Women’s average age at marriage rose to 35 for the first time. In the early Seventies it was 26. Divorcees have embraced later-life marriage, with the number of divorced men re-marrying surpassing 25,000 for the first time.