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UK Wedding News

29/01/2015

ONS Releases New Marriage Figures

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown the proportion of married families in Britain has remained steady for the last six years.

It is thought the proportion of families headed by a married couple stands at 60%, a level which has been in place since 2009. Elsewhere, while divorce rates have fallen over the same period, family breakdowns have increased due to the number of cohabiting parents going their separate ways. While the number of families headed by a cohabiting couple has fallen from 14.8% to 14.7%, the Marriage Foundation has said the trend has been increasing steadily over the past four decades. In addition, research by the think-tank found that cohabiting couples represent around 19% of couples, but account for 50% of family breakdown.

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The latest figures added that the number of lone parent families has remained steady at 25% of families for the past 10 years.

However, commenting on the figures, Harry Benson, Research Director of Marriage Foundation, explained: "The latest figures disguise the full extent of family breakdown. If stepfamilies are included, the proportion who have experienced the break-up of their family rises to one in three.

"And even this estimation is too low. Tragically, a proportion of these children who will go on to endure family breakdown. Almost one in two families with teenagers do not stay together until their children become adults.

"There's a very simple equation. Parents who don't marry have very poor odds of staying together. So the less marriage that takes place, the more family breakdown there will be."

He added: "I hope all political parties will look at these figures and think very hard whether it's acceptable for one in every two children not to live with both parents. We need them to start making strong decisions now to stem the tide of family breakdown."

(JP/CD)

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"Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown the proportion of married families in Britain has remained steady for the last six years."