British pensioners wed more often than young men
Research from Britain’s Centre for Social Justice has found that male pensioners are now more likely to tie the knot than men in their early 20s.
The number of marriages has sunk from 400,000 in 1973 to 224,402 in 2023, despite the population rising by over ten million, the research shows.
This is the lowest number of marriages in a year since records began in the 1850s, outside of the pandemic years.
100,000 lost COVID weddings were never rescheduled and the marriage rate is already back below the pre-pandemic record lows.
Marriage is down by 77% for men and 73% for women in just 50 years.
WWI levels
Before the 1980s, the marriage rate had never fallen below 47.7 – which was during World War I – it is now 18.1.
The CSJ states that its previous research shows marriage as “a major protective factor” in domestic abuse.
Cohabiting individuals in Britain are twice as likely to be victims of domestic abuse as married individuals.
Those who are single are three times more likely to suffer than those who are married.
Cohabiting couples are almost twice as likely to separate during the early years of their children’s lives, the CSJ states.
Among those under 30 and unmarried, nearly nine in ten (86%) of unmarried women and eight in ten (80%) of unmarried men want to get married.
Daniel Lilley of the CSJ said “People want to get married. We need to be fostering an environment where marriage is much easier.”