The number of people in any form of legally registered partnership in England and Wales is the lowest on record, new statistics from the 2021 Census show.
The latest 2021 figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, show that less than half the adult population (46.9 per cent) are either married, in a civil partnership, or separated, compared with 58.4 per cent in 1991.
The total number of adults who have never married or been in a civil partnership has increased every decade, from 26.3 per cent in 1991 to 37.9 per cent in 2021. The rise is most pronounced among 25- to 35-year-olds: in 1991, 2.7 million were unmarried; today, that figure is more than double, at 5.8 million. Among women aged between 25 and 29, however, the proportion has decreased from 27.8 per cent in 2011 to 17.5 per cent in 2021.
The Census, which was the first since same-sex marriage was introduced in 2014, showed that adults in same-sex marriages and all civil partnerships make up less than 0.5 per cent of the population. Same-sex-married is the largest group, at 134,000 people; 67,000 are in same-sex civil partnerships; and 36,000 are in opposite-sex civil partnerships.
The number of people in any form of legally registered partnership in England and Wales is the lowest on record, new statistics from the 2021 Census show https://t.co/MNErr268ZO
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 27, 2023