Cambridge Family Law Practice

Divorce rates have fallen to their lowest level since the 1970s, a report has claimed.

 

The Marriage Foundation analysed marriage data from the Office for National Statistics, as well as other sources, correlating marriages in each year from 1963 onwards with whether or not the couple had subsequently divorced. According to their findings, the average rate of divorce is now 35 per cent, the same as during the 1970s.

 

This figure represents a substantial drop from 1986, which the Foundation found was the worst year for stable marriages since 1963. 41 per cent of couples who married in that year have subsequently divorced, and this figure is projected to eventually reach 44 per cent.

 

The Marriage Foundation was established to promote the virtues of marriage and highlight the social problems associated with family breakdown. Founder and chairman Sir Paul Coleridge is a former High Court judge.

 

The 1970s and 1980s were characterised by a steadily rising divorce rate, the findings suggest, but the numbers began to fall again in the 1990s. According to the Research Director Harry Benson, the changes are accounted for by the numbers of women choosing to file for divorce in the first few years of their marriages. The majority of divorce petitions are filed between the third and seventh year of the marriage.

 

Benson explained:

 

“All of the change happens among women filing for divorce in their first decade of marriage. Almost no changes beyond that for women and almost no change at all for men.

If this was all about age or economics or more women in the workplace, we would expect to see similar variations in husband-granted divorces. We don’t. So this is a gender effect.”

 

He continued:

 

“My view is that this is all about men’s commitment. In the 1970s, more and more couples began to cohabit which almost certainly led to couples getting married due to social pressure. More uncommitted men means more women divorcing early on. But as social pressure to marry has all but disappeared, the men who marry are increasingly those who really buy into their marriages.”

 

Simon Bethel, one of the partners here at Cambridge Family Law Practice, observes:

“The analysis and findings of The Marriage Foundation are certainly interesting. This sort of analysis inevitably looks at trends, rather than being able to consider each detail and speak with the parties involved, which is converse to the work that we as family lawyers do. We at Cambridge Family Law Practice have certainly seen an increase in the number of unmarried couples (or, rather, one former party to such a couple) seeking advice, which appears to reflect at least some of the social changes identified in the report.”