Divorce numbers fall to 35-year low

By Steve Doughty

Fewer couples ended their marriages in 2008 than in any year since the divorce boom of the 1970s

The number of divorces has dropped to a historic low, official figures showed yesterday.

Fewer couples ended their marriages in 2008 than in any year since the divorce boom of the 1970s.

The number of children left in broken families by divorce - 107,000 - has dropped by a third in just five years, the Government's Office for National Statistics reported

Increasingly, divorce involves younger couples in their 20s and early 30s, who appear more tempted into infidelity in an age when a majority of young people are unmarried and many engage in serial relationships.

Older couples and those with children are sticking together in a way which means marriages are more stable than they have ever been under modern divorce laws.

There were 121,799 divorces in England and Wales in 2008, the figures showed, 5.5 per cent down on the 128,232 in 2007. The number was the lowest since 1975, when 120,522 marriages ended in the courts.

Although the collapse in numbers of people marrying has reduced the number of couples who may divorce, divorce rates released yesterday tell the same story of declining marriage break-up.

In 2008 11.5 couples parted for every 1,000 married people, the lowest rate since 1979.

The 1970s were a period of rapidly climbing divorce numbers thanks to the 1969 law reforms, which introduced the 'quickie' divorce and allowed couples to break up simply by living apart.

Claire Tyler of the counselling group Relate said: 'The divorce figures show a total of 106,763 children under 16 saw their parents divorce in 2008.

'However this figure captures only part of the picture of family break up, as there are no statistics on the number of cohabiting parents who break up.'

She called for more spending on relationship support to help couples stay together.

The growing number of early divorces meant that the average time a marriage lasts fell from 11.7 years to 11.5. This is however, an increase from the 10.2 years in 1998.

The statistics also showed:

In 2008, the divorce rate in England and Wales decreased by 2.5 per cent to 11.5 divorcing people per 1,000 married population, compared with 11.8 in 2007;

The mean age at divorce increased for both men and women in 2008. The mean age for men divorcing was 43.9 years in 2008, an increase from 43.7 years in 2007. For women this increased from 41.2 years in 2007 to 41.4 years in 2008;

The median duration of marriage at divorce granted in 2008 was 11.5 years, a decrease from 11.7 years in 2007 and an increase from 10.2 years in 1998;

In 2008, 20 per cent of men divorcing and 20 per cent of women divorcing had a previous marriage ending in divorce;

The number of divorces in the United Kingdom fell by 5.5 per cent in 2008 to 136,026 compared with 143,955 in 2007;

The number of divorces in Scotland fell by 10 per cent from 12,810 in 2007 to 11,474 in 2008.

The number of divorces in Northern Ireland also decreased. In 2008, there were 2,773 divorces, 4.8 per cent less than in 2007 when there were 2,913.


source: dailymaail