British living longer and travelling more

The Social Trends report, by the Office for National Statistics, paints a picture very different from the first report in 1970.

Its editor, Matthew Hughes, said: "We are now living longer, less of us get married and household sizes are smaller. More of us have cars,

women are having babies later in life and more of our household spending goes on housing, water and fuel."

Researchers found life expectancy has risen since 1970 when men on average lived to the age of 68.7 and women to 75. The comparable figures now are 77.8 for men and 81.9 for women.

More detailed figures show we have not all got more healthy with a recent rise in the number of adults judged as obese.

In 1994 15.7 per cent of people had a body mass index of 30 or more, classifying them as obese, but that figure now stands at 24.5 per cent.

The growth in foreign travel also stands out. In 1971 UK residents made 6.7 million holiday trips abroad. By 2008 that figure was 45.5 million.

Some things have not changed though, with Spain and France still the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers.

The number of people people living alone has risen from 18 per cent of all households in 1971 to 29 per cent in 2009.

There have been major changes in the number of students in higher education, rising from 621,000 in 1970/71 to 2.5 million in 2007/08.

Another noticeable change is the decline in manufacturing. In 1978 it accounted for almost a third of UK jobs. By 2009 that figure was one in 10.