Divorce rates at 30-year low

Updated 13.08 Thu Aug 30 2007

Keywords: marriage, Divorce

The number of divorces in England and Wales has fallen to a 30-year low, the Office for National Statistics has said.

A total of 132,562 couples formally split last year, a drop of 6.5 per cent on 2005 and the third annual drop in succession.

Across the UK as a whole, the number of divorces fell by a more modest 4.5 per cent to 148,141 in 2006 from 155,052 in 2005

The figure, which excludes Scotland and Northern Ireland, is the lowest since 1977 when there were 129,053 divorces.

The overall provisional divorce rate for England and Wales - calculated by proportion rather than total - also fell to its lowest level for 22 years, to 12.2 for every thousand married men and women.

It was the second annual fall in succession, with the divorce rate down 7 per cent on 2005 of 13.1 per cent.

The figures also show that the idea of the seven-year itch may be overly pessimistic - the average failed marriage now lasts as long as 11.6 years, unchanged since 2005.

Across the UK as a whole, the number of divorces fell by a more modest 4.5 per cent to 148,141 in 2006 from 155,052 in 2005.

But in Scotland there was a surge in the number of divorces by nearly 20 per cent, up from 10,940 in 2005 to 13,014 last year.

In Northern Ireland the number of divorces rose by 8.6 per cent to 2,565 last year, compared to 2,362 in 2005.