Marriage rates in England and Wales are at their lowest since records began, new statistics show.
Just 21.3 out of every 1,000 males aged 16 plus were married in 2009, down from a rate of 22.0 in 2008, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The proportion of women aged 16 plus who were married fell from 19.9 in 2008 to 19.2 in 2009.
The rates were the lowest since calculations of rates began in 1862.
The rate of marriage and the 2/3 that do marry who are turning to a civil ceremony seems like an indictment to the Christian churches. The future is bleak for English churches.
As for bleakness, TEC takes no baackseat. For 2002 through 2009, Marriages declined from 18,878 to 11,647 or a most depressing decline of 38 percent. The annual decline has been a bit over 1,000 per year. If this annual loss were to continue, there would be about ONE marriage per TEC church sometime in 2013. Thus, if a church had TWO marriages then some other church would have NONE. TEC may have to ration out Marriages so that each church gets to see one once in a while. TEC, weep not for England and Wales but for yourselves. Statmann
NB “were married” = “got married”. Big difference.