Number of marriages slumps to lowest level since QUEEN VICTORIA was on the throne
Number of marriages slumps to lowest level since QUEEN VICTORIA was on the throne with 6.4% decline in a year – and more PENSIONERS are tying the knot than under-24s for the first time
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The number of marriages in England and Wales slumped to their lowest rate in more than a century before the Covid lockdown, new figures revealed today.
Just 219,850 weddings took place in 2019, a decrease of 6.4 per cent from 2018 and the fewest since 1893, when Queen Victoria was on the throne and the population was around half what it is today.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics also show a continued slump in weddings involving young adults, at a time when house prices are soaring and out of reach of many.
The rate of marriages of people aged under 24 fell below that of pensioners aged 65 and over for the first time, the data showed.
Just 219,850 weddings took place in 2019, a decrease of 6.4 per cent from 2018 and the fewest since 1893, when Queen Victoria was on the throne.
The rate of marriages of people aged under 24 fell below that of pensioners aged 65 and over for the first time, the data showed.
Dr James Tucker, the OINS’s Head of Health and Life Events Analysis, Office for National Statistics said the numbers showed that the number of heterosexual marriages had halved since 1972.
‘This decline is a likely consequence of increasing numbers of men and women delaying marriage, or couples choosing to live together rather than marry, either as a precursor to marriage or as an alternative,’ he said.
The rate is almost certainly doing to decline dramatically in future when the impact of the pandemic is seen. Weddings were hugely affected by lockdown rules in place in 2020 and 2021.
Ellen Fell, from Hall Brown Family Law, said: ‘There’s no doubt that marriage will always be regarded as something of a gold standard for certain couples but there’s equally no mistaking that many others regard relationships differently to how their parents may have done.
‘Even those who have been married before seem less inclined to remarry, possibly because they want to avoid the prospect of a second divorce.
‘We must also bear in mind that these numbers predate the start of the pandemic and, therefore, the marriage figures for 2020 will be even lower.
‘Although we are seeing many of the marriages delayed by lockdown now starting to take place, it’s difficult to say whether all of those who put off ceremonies will actually wed.’
Mrs Fell added that marriages rates were arguably being propped up by women aged between 35 and 39 as well as those between 60 and 64 for contrasting reasons.
‘We are seeing many women who choose to settle down after establishing careers.
‘They feel the need to gain even relative security at work before stepping out to have a home and family in order to strike a work-life balance.
‘Women who are at the opposite end of their careers are conscious of retirement and old age.
‘They are acutely aware of how finding a partner can provide a different sort of security but which is equally valuable when it comes to having comfort later in life.’
