marriage gap Archives - Marriage Foundation

Signs that Gen Z want marriage

May I wish you a very happy Marriage Week, running up to Valentine’s day. This is a particularly good time to think about marriage and celebrate the most successful mechanism

Lockdown and births outside marriage

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that more than half of all births in England & Wales are now to unmarried parents for the very first time.

Impact and Legacy

After nine years as research director for Marriage Foundation, I decided I needed to boost our impact and legacy. If you’ve followed our work in any detail, I hope you’ll

How ‘naked weddings’ could help reduce the ‘marriage gap’

According to our new survey of 2,000 young adults for Marriage Week 10-16 May 2021, nearly one in three 18-30s say they would be more likely to marry if costs

The ‘burning injustice’ that the poor no longer marry

Harry and Meghan have just done it. His older brother did it a few years ago. Some of his cousins have done it. And his father has even done it twice.

Cabinet MPs’ constituents back marriage – so will it be in the Tory manifesto?

PRESS RELEASE FROM MARRIAGE FOUNDATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New Marriage Foundation data has shown that 25 out of 26 of the Cabinet MPs’ constituencies back marriage as the best

Throughout Europe, the rich marry and the poor don’t

Everyone knows that fewer people get married these days. This has become an increasingly serious problem for the simple reason that most couples who don’t marry don’t stay together whereas most

Scandinavian countries rank worst in Europe for marriage take-up among poorest

PRESS RELEASE FROM MARRIAGE FOUNDATION Date: 07 August 2016 Low income parents in Scandinavia are amongst the least likely in Europe to be married, according to new research by Marriage

Family breakdown costs £50bn a year

Family breakdown costs the UK an estimated £50 billion every year — most of which is spent supporting families who move from one to two households when relationships end. Beyond the financial cost, the social and emotional toll on children can be lifelong.

UK Among highest family breakdown in Europe

The UK continues to experience some of the highest levels of family breakdown in Europe. While divorce rates have declined, this improvement has not been matched among cohabiting couples, who remain significantly more likely to separate.

Lower Divorce Rates – Higher Lone Parents

Divorce rates have fallen dramatically over the past three decades. Yet over the same period, the number of lone-parent families has doubled — because couples who live together without marrying or forming a civil partnership are three times more likely to separate than those who do.

Formal commitment is strongly associated with family stability

Stability remains the norm when parents are married or in a civil partnership — around

75% stay together as their children grow up, compared with 30% of cohabiting parents. The act of formal commitment changes how couples think and behave about their relationship, creating a foundation that is more likely to endure.

The parents’ relationship plays a vital role in children’s development

The single most important factor in a child’s healthy development is the stability of their parents’ relationship. Our research consistently shows that family breakdown is the strongest predictor of teenage mental health problems — and that formal commitment through marriage or civil partnership offers the best protection against this instability.

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