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Wedding Rings
UK News

Divorce rates continue to fall, according to ONS

by Aaron James

Divorces went down by three percent in 2013 compared to 2012, the latest available figures. The number of people getting divorced has remained steady since 2009.

The latest figures show a small but positive shift after forty years of increasing divorce rates.

Family breakdown continues to rise due to the number of cohabiting couples splitting up, however.

The Marriage Foundation has said that relational breakdown costs the UK £46bn a year - more than the UK's entire defence budget as of Summer 2015.

Harry Benson, it's Director and a Christian, told Premier's News Hour: "For couples in their early years of marriage, divorce rates have collapsed. So all of this change in divorce rates that we're seeing in the headlines is actually being driven by people doing much much better in the early years of marriage.

"In more cases than not it's the wife who files for divorce. As cohabitation has become more normalised, those who do get married - particularly the men - are buying into it more, and so they're doing so much better in those early years. So we're going continue seeing falls in divorce rates.

"When we buy into things, when we make a decision about something... and it's very much a mutual decision and we know where we stand, then we're much more likely to stick at it."

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speaking to Harry Benson on the News Hour:

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