A new report from pro-marriage organisation The Marriage Foundation has claimed that almost of half of those currently aged 20 will never get married.
Figures have revealed a general decline in marriage rates, with current trends suggesting that only 61% of men and 68% of women aged 40 today will ever marry. This is a decline of 26% for men and 24% for women.
The Marriage Foundation also says that only 5% of men and 10% of women aged 25 are married, compared to 60% of men and 80% of women forty-four years ago.
When these trends are applied to today’s 20 year olds, figures show that only 52% of those men and 53% of women are expected to ever marry, says the Foundation.
Harry Benson, Research Director for the Marriage Foundation, described this development as “a devastating trickle-down effect of the trend away from marriage.”
“The trend towards early cohabitation is at the root of the problem of a decline in marriage,” commented Harry Benson. “Early cohabitation reduces the odds of getting married, partly because the act of cohabitation makes people less likely to want to marry and partly because so many cohabiting couples have children and then split, which makes future marriage involving stepchildren and stepparents less likely.”
“It is a case of once bitten twice shy; if a cohabiting relationship breaks down, people are less likely to trust a future relationship enough to commit to it with marriage,” he added.
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