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Wedding costs and the Marriage Gap

  • Almost one in three young unmarried UK adults aged 18-30 say they would be more likely to get married if the typical wedding was ‘cheaper, smaller, and didn’t have to include a big meal’, according to our survey conducted for Marriage Week.
  • In terms of who wants to get married among this group, the Marriage Gap between top and bottom social classes is as low as 11%. In terms of who actually marries, our previous research has highlighted a far higher Marriage Gap of 39%.
  • Comparing these two findings, five out of six of those who want to marry in the top social class will do so by the time they have children, whereas fewer than half in the lowest social class will do so.
  • Our survey provides compelling evidence that the cost of the wedding – and not lack of desire to marry – is a serious barrier to marriage for all except the top social classes.

Downloads

Here you can download the Research Briefing Paper as a PDF and the Press Release where it is available.

Download the Research Paper as a PDF
Download the Press Release

Family breakdown costs £50bn a year

When couples split up, families move from one to two households. Poverty is a common outcome that affects children. Six out of ten lone parents are supported by the state compared to one out of ten couple parents. That's where most of the £50bn is spent.

UK Among highest family breakdown in Europe

Five years ago, the UK had the highest rate of family breakdown in Europe. We're not doing as badly today, but only because of big falls in divorce rates. Alas there's no sign of a similar improvement among cohabitees

Lower Divorce Rates – Higher Lone Parents

Divorce rates have plummeted over the past 3 decades, but the number of lone parents has doubled in the same period. Why?... Because unmarried parents make up only one in five cohabiting parents but are responsible for one half of all family breakdown.

Stability is found in Marriage

Whereas stability is the norm if parents are married (75% stay together), it is the exception if they are not (30% stay together). As a result, among parents of teens who are still together as a couple, nine out of ten are married

Single Most Important Factor

The single most important factor in a child’s healthy development is the stable relationship of the parents. Our groundbreaking research shows that family breakdown is the #1 predictor of teenage mental health problems.

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Registered charity number: 1150453

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