Now only one in 20 unwed parents will stay together
Sad legacy for couples who don’t marry
MOST young couples who fail to marry are heading for a life of failed relationships and single parenthood.
New research reveals the pitfalls facing 20-somethings who shun marriage in favour of cohabiting relationships.
Of today’s young people, only one in 20 unmarried couples with children will still be together by their first-born’s 15th birthday.
By comparison, this figure will be more than a third for parents who are married.
But despite such warnings, the Marriage Foundation think-tank said analysis of official figures and the results of state-backed surveys revealed just 48 per cent of people aged 20 today will ever marry.
The bleak forecast follows warnings that marriage is becoming a lifestyle choice for the wealthy and a relative rarity among the poor.
The low numbers of 20-somethings who are likely to wed is in stark contrast with the high proportion of teenagers – more than three out of four – who say they would like to get married one day.
The average bride is now aged over 30, according to the Office for National Statistics. Research suggests reasons for later marriage include more women going into education and beginning careers, as well as the costs of weddings and children. The study also said that more then two thirds – 68 per cent –of today’s 40-yearolds have married or will marry, and nearly half of those who have children will stay together. However, for this group only 3
‘They do not insist on marriage’
per cent of unmarried couples will still be with their partner when their child is 15.
Retired High Court judge Sir Paul Coleridge, who founded the Marriage Foundation, said: ‘The research reveals yet again how bleak are the prospects of so many young people ... when they do not insist on marriage as the basis for parenthood.
‘I am profoundly saddened and alarmed looking at these forecast outcomes for the next generation and their children. Forty years in the family courts showed me on a daily basis the real human cost and suffering arising from family breakdown for everyone concerned.’
Sir Paul called for promotion of marriage ‘by all who are in a position to make a difference’.
He described the transferable tax allowance system for lowerearning married couples, to be introduced by David Cameron next year, as ‘minuscule’.
Marriage Foundation researcher Harry Benson said: ‘Family breakdown costs the Exchequer around £46billion a year. That is equivalent to the entire defence budget. I don’t see how the country will afford the steep rise in this bill that the increase in numbers of broken families will bring over the next few years.’
He added: ‘Despite the fact that the huge majority of teenagers want to get married, only half will do so.
‘They themselves will miss out on the greater stability marriage provides, but the ramifications will be felt most by their own children, who face high odds of growing up without a mother or father at home.’
The projections are based on both ONS figures and the Understanding Society largescale survey, which has regularly interviewed 40,000 households since 2009.