This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7314435.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Marriage rates lowest since 1862 | Marriage rates lowest since 1862 |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to the lowest level since records began in 1862, the Office for National Statistics said. | Marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to the lowest level since records began in 1862, the Office for National Statistics said. |
| Provisional marriage figures for 2006 show that 23 out of 1,000 unmarried men were choosing to marry - down from 25 men per 1,000 the previous year. | Provisional marriage figures for 2006 show that 23 out of 1,000 unmarried men were choosing to marry - down from 25 men per 1,000 the previous year. |
| The marriage rate for women fell from 22 to 21 per thousand for the period. | The marriage rate for women fell from 22 to 21 per thousand for the period. |
| The number of marriages has been in decline. In 2006 there were 237,000 - the lowest annual number since 1895. | The number of marriages has been in decline. In 2006 there were 237,000 - the lowest annual number since 1895. |
| Religious decline | |
| The popularity of marriage ceremonies in approved places such as hotels and stately homes continued in 2006. | |
| Just over 95,300 marriages took place in such premises, accounting for 40% of all marriages, up from just 5% in 1996. | |
| But the statistics also showed that the number of civil marriage ceremonies fell 3% from 2005 - from 162,169 to 157,490. | |
| Civil ceremonies represented 66% of all ceremonies in 2006, up from 65% in 2005. In 1990 this figure was 47%. | |
| Religious ceremonies also declined, falling by 7% to 79,490 compared with 2005. | |
| Since 1991 this figure has halved compared with a fall in the number of all marriages of 23% in the same period. | |
| Religious ceremonies accounted for 34% of all marriages in 2006. | |
| First marriages | |
| The figures showed that marriages that were the first for both parties in 2006 accounted for 61% of all marriages, while remarriages for both parties accounted for 18% - both figures about the same as in 2005. | |
| There was also very little change in the average age at marriage between 2005 and 2006. | |
| In 2006 the mean age for all marriages increased to 36.4 years for men - up from 36.2 in 2005, and 33.7 years for women (33.5 in 2005). | |
| In 2006 the mean age at first marriage was 31.8 years for men and 29.7 years for women. | |
| The number of ceremonies taking place in approved premises has continued to increase. |