Divorce rate is lowest in 22 years
Rushda:
August 30th, 2007
Romantics across the country may be pleased to hear that the divorce rate in England and Wales has reached the lowest number in 22 years, according to official statistics. Although it may be shocking that 132,562 couples split up over the last year (12.2 per 1000 married couples), the divorce rate has plummeted in recent years, the number being 7% lower than in 2005 and, in fact, the lowest number of recorded breakups since 1984.
The results have been taken from the Office for National Statistics, which has revealed lots of interesting facts about marriage over the past few years. For example, though the figures above might be positive it is worth noting that there are less marriages occurring nowadays and split ups have been more difficult to record. Furthermore, it has also been shown that the most likely age group to get a divorce are men and women in their 20s, yet the average age for divorces in the early 40s for both men and women, and the average divorce occurs 11 years after marriage.
What is particularly saddening is that more than half of the divorces involved at least one child under the age of 16 - that means 125,000 children were affected, with over a fifth even being under the age of five. This has devastated many families across the country. As Claire Tyler, chief executive of relationship counselling service Relate has said:
“Whilst it is encouraging that the divorce rate has fallen we must not forget that divorce is still a reality for many families living in the UK today and the emotional fallout can be devastating. For the fifth consecutive year men and women in their late 20s have the highest divorce rates, many of whom will have young children.”
As for the falling number of marriages, there are many reasons for this. One of the main reasons could be that the payout sums in cases of divorce have scared people from committing too soon - such reasons mean there are more couples simply cohabiting instead of tying the legal knot. Whatever the reasons for the drop, it is still clear that marriage is a huge decision which has been taken lightly by many and causes trauma to many lives when it ends in divorce.