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ISSUES: Title
Key facts
Key facts
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The vast majority of people enjoy good quality
relationships: 87% of people in couples are happy with
their relationships; 71% of us enjoy good relationships
with our colleagues; and nine out of ten of us report
having close friends. (page 1)
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61% of parents identifying money worries as a top
strain on relationships; 22% of workers saying they
work more hours than they want to and this damages
their health; and one in six people who are disabled or
living with long-term health conditions reporting that
they have no close friends. (page 1)
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Recent research from Marriage Foundation has also
showed that marriage is increasingly the preserve of
the rich. Among UK parents with children under five,
87% of those in the top income quintile were married
compared to 24% in the bottom quintile. (page 2)
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On average, 82% of parents in the highest income
quintile are married compared to 42% of parents in the
lowest income quintile. (page 2)
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The highest marriage gap overall is found in Denmark,
where 81% of the richest parents are married, 3.9 times
the level of 26% among the poorest parents. (page 2)
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You can get married or form a civil partnership in the
UK if you’re:
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16 or over
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free to marry or form a civil partnership (single,
divorced or widowed)
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not closely related. (page 3)
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The number of humanist weddings performed in
Scotland has grown exponentially since their legal
recognition as marriages, reversing the overall decline
in the number of marriages in Scotland. In 2010
Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) performed more
marriages than the Catholic Church, and in 2013 it
performed more than double. (page 6)
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Same-sex couples are not permitted to marry in any
of the 17,350 churches of the Church of England and
the Church in Wales, or in nearly 23,000 other places
of worship, such as Roman Catholic churches, Islamic
mosques, and Hindu temples. (page 11)
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Only 139 places of worship are registered to perform
same-sex marriage in England and Wales, meaning
approximately 99.5 per cent do not offer it. (page 11)
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Of 12 wedding traditions surveyed by YouGov, seven
traditions were still favoured by more than half of
people. The most popular wedding traditions are the
groom having a best man (78%), the bride and groom’s
first dance (75%) and the best man’s speech (73%).
(page 13)
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Half (51%) of cohabitees think government benefits
are biased in favour of married couples. (page 17)
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A third (33%) of cohabitees have not yet named the
beneficiary of their pension. (page 17)
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Cohabitees’ finances are in poorer health than married
couples, with lower incomes and less savings. (page
17)
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Three quarters (74%) of cohabitees do not have a will
and 64% have no life insurance. (page 17)
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One in ten (10%) cohabitees also admit to only being
with their partner as they cannot afford to separate.
(page 17)
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The US has the sixth highest divorce rate of any
country, with 3.6 annual divorces per 1,000 inhabitants,
according to the most recent figures available. (page
24)
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Three in five British children (62%) born to unmarried
couples experience family breakdown before they hit
their teen years. (page 25)
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In 2015, a YouGov poll found that as many as 61 per
cent of Britons have stayed in an unhappy relationship
for much longer than they think they should have. Only
six per cent of the more than 2,000 people surveyed
claimed they had broken up with their partner soon
after realising they were not a good match. (page 27)
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A staggering 2.87 million people across the UK are
living in relationships which would be described
within clinical practice as distressed, according a new
study by Relate, the UK’s leading relationships charity.
This equates to 18% of married or cohabiting couples
and 1.4 million UK families. (page 29)
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Statistics show 42 per cent of marriages end in divorce,
and 34 per cent of married couples divorce before
their 20th wedding anniversary. (page 30)
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Researchers have found that families who spend 30
more minutes per day than other families in family
mealtimes have a 30% less risk of parental separation
– but only if the TV isn’t on during the meal. (page 35)
