Proportion of people tying the knot slowly declining

THE PROPORTION of people getting married is falling, and those who do tie the knot are waiting for longer, official statistics show.

Just over half of adults aged 16 and over in England and Wales (50.4 per cent) were married or in a civil partnership in 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

There were 23,015,912 people married or in a civil partnership in England last year – just over half (50.6 per cent) of the total population of marrying age.

While it remains the most common marital status, the proportion is “steadily declining” across all age groups except for the over-70s.

In 2009, the equivalent proportion of people married or in a civil partnership in England was 52.2 per cent.

Overall, the proportion of men who are married has fallen by 1.9 percentage points compared with a decade earlier, while for women a fall of 1.4 percentage points has been seen.

This decline is particularly marked in people aged 50 to 69, with a decrease of 5.5 percentage points (to 67 per cent) compared with a decade earlier.

Amanda Sharfman, from the ONS, said: “We see slow changes in the composition of the population aged 16 years and over by marital status over time.

“Married remained the most common marital status, accounting for just over half of the population in 2019, but this proportion is steadily declining except among those aged 70 years and over. In particular, females in their 70s were more likely to be married than a decade earlier. They were also more likely to be divorced, and less likely to be widowed.”