For better, for worse as divorces drop

A report by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of divorces had decreased 5 per cent in 2008 to 121,779, from 128,232 in 2007.

By 2008 – the fifth consecutive year divorce numbers had dropped – there had been a vast reduction on a peak of 153,176 in 2003.

It is the lowest figure since 1975, when there were 120,522 divorces.

But the results also showed that, compared with 2007, divorce rates in England and Wales increased for men aged up to 39 and over 60, and for women aged 20 to 34 and 50 to 59.

For the fourth year running, both men and women in their late twenties had the highest divorce rates of all five-year age groups.

Results also revealed there were 106,763 children aged under 16 who were in families where the parents got divorced.The number has fallen 29 per cent from a decade earlier.

Claire Tyler, chief executive of Relate, said: "Politicians have recently been hotly discussing what makes people get married. These figures show that it isn't just about getting couples up the aisle – what's really important is that relationships last."