Divorce in the early years of marriage now less common in England and Wales

Since 2000, fewer couples in England and Wales have divorced within the first ten years of marriage, reversing the trend of the late 20th century.

The chart shows the percentage of marriages ending in divorce within a decade, based on the year of marriage.

For those married in 1965, one in ten divorced within ten years.

By 1975, this had nearly doubled to 18% as legal reforms made separation easier and less stigmatized. Divorce rates peaked for couples married in 1995, with one in four divorcing by their tenth anniversary.

But, as you can see, this trend has started to reverse. Of the couples that married in 2012, only 17% had divorced by 2022. That’s well below the peak in the 1990s.

This Daily Data Insight was written by Veronika Samborska.