Divorce rates down but over sixties divorces attract attention
Created On:
10 Sep 2008
Date Updated:
10 Sep 2008
The provisional divorce rate in England and Wales fell for a third consecutive year, by 3.0 percent, reaching its lowest level since 1981, according to new statistics on divorces in 2007 released by the Office for National Statistics.
The divorce rate fell from 12.2 divorces per thousand married men and women in 2006 to 11.9. Compared with 2006, divorce rates in England and Wales for both men and women fell across most age groups. However, for men and women aged 60 and over and also for women aged between 45 and 49 the rate increased.
Both men and women in their late twenties had the highest divorce rates of all five-year age groups, of 26.6 and 26.9 divorces per 1,000 respectively.
The average (median) duration of marriage for divorces granted in 2007 increased to 11.7 years compared with the 2006 level of 11.6 years.
One in five men and women divorcing in 2007 had a previous marriage ending in divorce. This proportion has doubled in 27 years.
Over half (51 per cent) of couples divorcing in 2007 had at least one child aged under 16. Twenty per cent of these children were under five and 63 per cent were under eleven. These are the same percentages as in 2006.
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