Less than fifth of marriages now take place in church

MARRIAGES in places of worship now not only account for less than a fifth of all ceremonies for the first time, but have also hit a record low.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday released data on marriages in England and Wales in 2019, analysed by age, sex, previous marital status and civil or religious ceremony.

It found that religious ceremonies accounted for 18.7 per cent of oppositesex marriages, a decrease from 21.1 per cent in 2018 and the lowest percentage on record; for same-sex marriages, 0.7 per cent were religious ceremonies.

Researchers said the reason was “couples choosing to live together rather than marry, either as a precursor to marriage or as an alternative”.

The ONS also found that marriage rates for opposite-sex couples fell to their lowest level since 1862; in 2019, there were 18.6 marriages per 1,000 unmarried men and 17.2 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women.

However, the Bishop of Durham has insisted that “church weddings aren’t only for regular churchgoers”. The Rt Rev Paul Butler said: “We believe that marriage is a foundation for a good society, – wherever a marriage takes place – and we hear time and time again from couples who marry in church of how personal, meaningful, spiritual and beautiful – the ceremony can be.”

In total, 219,850 marriages took place in 2019, down 6.4 per cent on the year before. There were 213,122 marriages between opposite-sex couples, a decrease of 6.5 per cent from 2018 and 6,728 between same-sex couples, 2.8 per cent fewer than the year before.

Dr James Tucker, head of health and life events analysis at the ONS, said: “Today’s data show a decline in marriage

rates for opposite-sex couples while rates for same-sex couples have remained the same.

The number of opposite-sex marriages has fallen by 50 per cent since 1972. Future analysis will show the impact of the pandemic on marriage rates.”

However, Harry Benson, research director of the Marriage Foundation, a family breakdown charity, said that “most young adults still want to marry”.