The pandemic threw a spanner in the works for those hoping to walk down the aisle and exchange diamond rings and wedding vows. As a result, 2022 has seen a huge wedding boom as hopeful couples scramble to celebrate their love. However, despite the sudden influx of wedding dates, overall interest in marriage has been decreasing in the UK.
Boys and girls alike grow up believing marriage is the pinnacle of life. We read our children tales of handsome princes and beautiful princesses and when the storybook closes, they all live happily ever after. While this may be the narrative we’re encouraged to believe at a young age, it isn’t the life everyone aspires to have.
Here, we explore how popular marriage is in the modern-day.
How many marriages took place in 2018?
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that in 2018, 234,795 marriages took place in England and Wales. These figures show a decrease of 3.3% in marriages from the previous year and are the lowest number of unions since 2009, when the Great Recession was tearing through the UK.
Looking back to decades prior, there’s been a significant shift in the number of people saying “I do” in recent years. In fact, the ONS reports that since 1972 the number of opposite-sex marriages has dropped by a whopping 46.5%.
Are religious ceremonies falling out of favour?
Times are changing and the traditional church wedding seems to be growing less popular. The ONS revealed that in 2018 only 21.1% of opposite-sex marriages involved religious ceremonies, the lowest figures on record. In contrast, a mere 0.9% of same-sex marriage ceremonies were religious.
However, a 2018 article by The Guardian reported the post-millennial generation are more open to Christian faith and worship than older generations. This suggests over time we may see an increase in the number of religious wedding ceremonies.
Are we waiting longer to get married?
While 30-odd years ago it was considered quite normal to get married in your early to mid-twenties, recent statistics suggest millennials are more likely to wait up to a decade longer. In 2018, the average age at marriage for opposite-sex unions was 38.1 years for men and 35.8 years for women.
Same-sex couples tended to be slightly older when tying the knot, with the average age at marriage for men being 40.4 years and women 36.9 years in 2018.
There could be a number of factors causing millennials to wait longer before getting married. Career opportunities have grown considerably since the 70s and 80s, and it seems more women are taking an interest in pursuing a career rather than settling down and starting a family shortly after completing their education.
The cost of living crisis that the UK is currently battling is also likely to be an element at play, as the price of energy and groceries continue to skyrocket.