According to the recent ONS report, the percentage of the population who are married or in a civil partnership continues to fall. In 2002 the figure was 54.8 % which compares to the latest figure of 50.6 % of the population aged 16 and over in 2015.
In terms of numbers, the 50.6% represents 23.8 million people who were married in 2015.
This decline is probably explained by a rise in the number of people who cohabit who have never married or formed a civil partnership.
60.5% of the population aged 16 and over, that is, 28.4 million people were living in a couple in 2015 and the number of that population who were “cohabiting, never married or civil partnered” increased from 6.8% in 2002 to 9.5% in 2015.
The report provides lots of other statistics for those who like such information. Interestingly, we learn from the figures that the majority of the population aged 16 and over in 2015 were married. They are followed by those who were single, never married or civil partnered (34.5%). Those who were divorced come out at 8.1% and those widowed at 6.5%. The smallest group were those in a civil partnership, at 0.2% of the population aged 16 and over.
Also more men than women remarry after divorce.
Source: ONS (Office for National statistics).