Couples in 60s fuelling ‘silver marriage’ boom

a BOOM in ‘silver marriage’ has seen the number of weddings among older people double since the millennium.

Those in their sixties and older have increasingly chosen to marry to share their company, pensions, and increasing vitality and life expectancy.

The leap in numbers marrying at unprecedentedly mature ages was revealed in marriage figures for 2016 for England and Wales published by the Office for National statistics.

They showed that while women in their twenties and thirties are increasingly shunning marriage in favour of careers and cohabitation, growing numbers of older people are looking to combine retirement with the acquisition of a fresh husband or wife.

In 2016, a total of 6,967 women in their sixties married, well over double the figure of 3,018 recorded in 2001. among men, there were 10,743 marriages of sixty- somethings, up from 5,408 in 2001.

There were nearly 21,000 marriages of women in their fifties compared to a little over 11,000 in 2001, and more than 25,000 marriages of men in their fifties, compared to fewer than 16,000 in 2001. The ONs said: ‘In general, opposite-sex marriage rates among older people have been increasing over recent years and falling at younger ages.’

Family lawyer Ellen Walker, of Hall Brown Family Law, said there appeared to be greater interest in marriage among older men.

‘By the point at which more men appear to be marrying, many may well have long since built their careers and a comfortable lifestyle which makes them attractive to the opposite sex,’ she said. ‘ It could be that these figures bear out a pattern seen in previous ONs data suggesting men are more likely to crave companionship in later life than women.’

aidan Jones, of the Relate counselling organisation, welcomed rising over-50 marriage rates but said divorce rates were also the highest within this age group.

The growth of marriage numbers among older people contrasts with flat figures for younger ages. In 2016, the number of marriages of women aged between 25 and 30 rose slightly, from 71,187 in 2015 to 71,230. The figure compared with more than 80,000 marriages for women in this age group in 2000.

among men in the same age group, numbers of marriages in 2016 fell to 57,364 from 57,772 in 2015, a level that compares with over 74,000 in 2000.

Overall there were 249,793 weddings in 2016, up slightly on the previous year but only just over 2009’s all-time low of 232,000.

There were 7,019 marriages between same-sex couples in 2016, an increase of 8.1 per cent on the previous year.

Fewer than one in four couples now choose a white wedding in church, the ONs figures showed.

There were just over 60,000 religious marriage ceremonies in England and Wales in 2016, just 24 per cent of the total. around half of all weddings were religious ceremonies until the early 1990s.