Is marriage really such a good thing? Why should we care about it as Christians? And what actually is the Government currently doing (or not doing!) about it? Here are 10 things we think you need to know...
1. Marriage rates in the UK are falling...
In 2021, adults were 44% more likely to have never been married than was the case in 1991. Back then, amongst women aged 20-39, 37% had never been married: this had risen to 58.6% in 2011 and 65.7% by 2021. In 2023, the number of adults who were married or in a civil partnership at any one time fell below 50% for the first time ever.
2. ...but so are divorce rates
Although we still hear troubling figures about the rate of divorce, and despite the introduction of ‘no-fault divorce’ in 2022, divorce rates have been falling in recent decades. A 2019 report found that 35% of people who were married that year were predicted to divorce, down from the divorce rate of 44% among couples who married in the late 190s and early 1990s. For under-40s, the rate of divorce fell by ⅔ from 1991 to 2021, and the median length of marriage at divorce has risen from less than 9 years in the 1980s to more than 12 years today.
3. There is a correlation between marriage rates and ethnicity and religious background
Marriage rates (and divorce rates) are not consistent across the UK: different ethnicities (and the cultures represented by them) and religions play an impact. The lowest marriage rate is amongst Black Caribbean Brits (only 27%). 43.5% of White Brits are married, and the figure rises to more than 60% among Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi individuals. Religious individuals are 24% far more likely to be married than secular individuals and 21% less likely to be divorced. Christians account for 55.5% of married couples, despite only making up 46.2% of the population.
4. Poverty is linked with higher rates of family breakdown
Lone parenthood is at its highest in poorer parts of the UK: it is at its highest in the London boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Islington, where more than 40% children live in single-parent families. In affluent areas like St Albans, Guildford and Wokingham, that figure is less than 17%.
5. Same-sex marriage is still comparatively rare
Same-sex marriage was introduced in 2014, but currently it only makes up 0.6% of marriages. Civil partnership is also uncommon (whether same-sex or opposite-sex), making up just 0.45% of the total of marriages and civil partnerships. Early indications are that the divorce rate is higher for same-sex couples (making up 1.4% of divorces in 2021).
6. Cohabiting and single-parent families are becoming more common
Cohabiting couple families accounted for 18% of families in the UK in 2023. Couples aged 25-34 who live together were 27% more likely to be cohabiting than married in 2021, compared to 2011, and cohabiting has risen across all groups under the age of 85. 23% of UK families are headed by a single parent, compared to an EU average of 13%, and in England & Wales, births outside marriage or civil partnerships are now higher than within marriage (51.4%) for the first time ever.
7. Cohabitation makes family breakdown more likely
Family breakdown is far more common among couples which are not married than those who are: research from the Policy Exchange suggested that almost 1 in 2 cohabiting parents split up before a child’s fifth birthday; the comparable figure for married parents was 1 in 12. The UK is now among the worst countries in the western world when ranked by family breakdown, and, as of 2018, the UK spendt around £51 billion/year on family breakdown (more than it did at the time on Defence).
8. Family breakdown is linked with a number of negative outcomes for children
Family breakdown results in a number of negative outcomes for children. The CSJ found in 2019 that children in broken families are more than twice as likely to experience poverty than those whose families stay together. They are 2.3 times more likely to experience homelessness, 2.0 times more likely to have trouble with the police, 1.8 times more likely to experience alcoholism, and 1.7 times more likely to experience mental health issues. The consequence of divorce has been shown to have a greater impact on children’s education than parental death. They were also themselves 1.9 times less likely to remain together with the other parent of their own children.
9. Positive relationships with family members are vital for children's wellbeing
Good relationships with family members are vitally important for children. A 2022 report from the Children’s Commissioner found that getting on well with either of your parents at age 13 is linked with 2% higher wages at age 25, and that the average life satisfaction for girls who were close to their mother was 7.9/10, compared to 4.4/10 for those who were not.
10. Marriage is not currently well-supported by the state
In removing the recognition of marriage from the tax system in 2000, Britain became the only OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economy of its size not to recognise marriage in its tax system. A one-earner married couple with two children on average wages pays 70 per cent more tax than a comparable French family, more than twice as much as a comparable US family and 15 times as much as that on a comparable German family.