Tying the not... marriage rates fall to lowest since records began

Just 21.3 out of every 1,000 males aged over 16 were married in 2009, down from a rate of 22.0 in 2008, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

The proportion of women over 16 who were married fell from 19.9 in 2008 to 19.2 in 2009.

The rates were the lowest since such calculations began in 1862.

Some 231,490 marriages were registered in England and Wales in 2009 – the lowest number since 1895 when 228,204 were recorded, according to the provisional figures.

The ONS said 266,950 weddings were recorded throughout the UK in 2009 – reflecting a downward trend after a peak of 480,285 ceremonies in 1972.

Marriages in Scotland fell 4.8 per cent from 28,903 in 2008 to 27,524 in 2009 and in Northern Ireland the number of marriages decreased by 6.8 per cent to 7,931 in 2009.

The ONS said the figures are provisional as they estimate a further 1 per cent of marriage returns from 2009 have not yet been received.

They expect the final figures for England and Wales to remain slightly below the final 2008 figure of 235,794.

The ONS said more than a third – 35 per cent – of marriages in 2009 were remarriages for one or both partners, down from 41 per cent in 1999.

Civil ceremonies accounted for two-thirds – 67 per cent – of all ceremonies in 2009, an increase of 62 per cent from 1999.

The ONS said this rise had co-incided with an increase in premises being licensed for wedding ceremonies.

A spokeswoman for the relationship support group Relate, said: “Of course marriage is not the only option for long-term relationships. But there is evidence that couples are setting themselves a ‘to do’ list before getting married – perhaps buying a house, getting the perfect job or buying the dream car.

“As money gets tighter, these things get harder to achieve, and we could see less couples tying the knot as a result.”

An ONS spokeswoman said the fall could be attributed to more people cohabiting rather than getting married or delaying marriage.

“The number of people available to marry, the unmarried population aged 16 and over, has been increasing over the last few decades, so this is not the reason for the drop in marriages in 2009,” she said.

“In contrast, there has been a long-term decline in the marriage rate since the early 1970s and this is the driver of the fall in the number of marriages in 2009.”

The statistics follow last month’s ONS figures showing fewer divorces in England and Wales for the sixth consecutive year – down to 113,949 in 2009, a 6.4 per cent decrease on 2008 when there were 121,708, and the lowest since 1974.