People who are married have a consistently lower premature death rate than those who are single, divorced, or widowed, new research suggests.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show married men and women of all ages consistently had the lowest mortality rates between 2010 and 2019.

Sarah Caul, of the ONS, comments:

“For the first time we have analysed demographic trends in mortality rates by marital status. We’ve found, by looking at data across a decade, that men and women who are married or in a civil partnership consistently have a lower mortality rate than their single, divorced or widowed counterparts.”

Last year, research from the ONS demonstrated that stronger marriages have led to a dramatic reduction in family breakdown over the last decade.

ONS figures showed that the proportion of lone parent families in the UK are at the lowest level since the 1990s. In 2020, lone parent families made up 21.8% of UK families with children. This was one sixth down on the peak rate of 26% in 2012.

CARE notes that although marriage is declining in popularity overall, the proportion of married families is increasing because fewer married couples split up. This ultimately shows the success of married families in Britain leads to less family breakdown.

Read more about our work on marriage on our cause page.