By Image courtesy: AFP. AFP | London The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com The proportion of people in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, latest figures show. Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published on
AFP | London
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
The proportion of people in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, latest figures show.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published on Thursday, estimate that in 2022 only 49.4 percent of the adult population were in a legal union.
The figure for 2021, also just published, was 49.7 percent. Despite the downward trend, however, rising numbers are opting for civil partnerships or same-sex marriages.
The number of same-sex marriages rose from about 26,000 in 2015 to some 167,000 in 2022.
Similarly, the estimated number of civil partnerships almost doubled over the last decade, from 120,000 in 2012 to 222,000 in 2022, the ONS said.
The record low figure for marriage or civil partnerships overall was down from 51.2 percent a decade earlier in 2012.
The ONS said comparable records go back to 2002 but other data going back to 1972, though not directly comparable, showed the percentage married had never before dropped below 50 percent.
