In 2019 the divorce rate in England and Wales was 8.9 divorces per thousand married couples, which was significantly higher than the rate in 2018 which was 7.5. The Divorce rate in England and Wales has been falling steadily since a rate of 13.3 was recorded in 2003 and 2004. In the last available data for Scotland in 2008, the divorce rate was 11.1.

In 2019, the average age for males divorcing in England and Wales was 47.7, while for females it was 45.3. Throughout this period, the average age at which people get divorced has been climbing for males and females.

There were 112,182 divorces in the United Kingdom in 2020, compared with 119,428 in the previous year.

According to the 2020 UNIDOMO questionnaire, Portugal clearly led the list of European countries with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages. With 91.5 divorces the Portuguese Republic led the list, followed by Spain and Luxembourg. All three countries boast a significantly higher share than the other European countries, each reporting a divorce rate over 80 divorces.

A different way to look at Portugal

While Portugal clearly has the most divorces per 100 marriages, looking at divorce rates per 1.000 inhabitants in other European countries alters the picture of the country as one unsettled by significant numbers of divorces. With nearly 1.7 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants Portugal has roughly the same divorce rate as Germany and the Netherlands. Interesting is furthermore that although marriages in Portugal tend to result in divorce lightly more often as in Luxembourg (80.3%), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg experienced a 0.6 point higher divorce rate.

What about the rest of the World?

While compared with Latin American countries like Guatemala or Peru, ranked among the countries with the lowest divorce rates in the world, Luxembourg’s divorce rate seems excessive. However, when compared with divorce rates (per 1.000 inhabitants) of countries like the United States (2.7) or China (3.5) divorce rates from Luxembourg and Europe are not out of the ordinary.

Presents statistics on marriages solemnised, dissolved and annulled in England and Wales. It also includes information on adoptions.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Marriage, Divorce and Adoption Statistics, England and Wales (Series FM2)

In 2023, there were 2,138 divorces granted in Northern Ireland, compared with 2,324 in 2022.

Annual UK and constituent country figures for births, deaths, marriages, divorces, civil partnerships and civil partnership dissolutions.

This statistic shows the average cost of a divorce in the United Kingdom in 2014, by the expense allocation which can be undertaken by the divorcee. According to the source, legal fees cost on average 1,280 British pounds; this was almost the smallest expense group, valued at 3 British pounds more than the smallest expense, dating. The highest expense resulting from a divorce occurred when buying a new home; this cost on average 94.1 thousand British pounds.

As of 2020, Sri Lanka had the lowest divorce rate in the world, with only 0.15 divorces per 1,000 population. Vietnam and Guatemala followed with 0.2 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, West Bank & the Gaza Strip had the highest marriage rate in the world that year.

In 2022, over 28.9 million people in England and Wales were single, compared with 24 million who were married. In the same year, there were 3.8 million people who were divorced, and 3.13 million people who were widowed.

This statistic shows the reasons which respondents cited for initiating their divorce proceedings in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2014/2015, by application method. For both online and face-to-face applications, a majority of respondents filed for divorce due to the behavior of the partner, with 53 and 60 percent respectively.

There were 5,980 divorces that took place in Scotland in 2020, an increase on the previous year of 1,848. During the provided time period, divorces in Scotland have been falling gradually after peaking at 13,012 in 2006.

Portugal was the European country with the highest divorce rate in 2020, counting almost 92 divorces per 100 marriages. However, in 2023, the divorce-marriage ratio decreased to 47 percent. In 2020, the ratio peaked because of the drop in marriages during the coronavirus (COVID-19) related lockdown. Pandemic years registered the lowest numbers of marriages and divorces since 2010 Until 2019, the annual divorce rate in Portugal had been relatively stable at around two divorces per 1,000 residents. Nevertheless, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the lowest divorce rate so far was recorded at 1.7, which may be explained by the restrictions imposed by lockdowns and the delays in administrative and bureaucratic services. Still, and due to the same reasons, the number of marriages also suffered a steep decline in 2020 to around 18,900, more than doubling in 2022 and surpassing 2011 figures. First marriages and motherhood occur later in life in Portugal The mean age on first marriage of both men and women in Portugal has been increasing at an almost constant pace for years. 2021 marked an inversion of this tendency, with the mean age of men when marrying for the first time decreasing to 34.3 years of age and the mean age of women decreasing to 32.9 years. However, the rising trend in age was quickly reestablished, as 2022 recorded the highest mean age on first marriage for both sexes. Under the same inclination is the average age of women when giving birth to their first child, which was at 30.9 years in 2021, increasing two years of age in relation to 2010.

This statistic shows the cited grounds for divorce as a proportion of all divorces in England and Wales in 2013, by party to whom the divorce was granted. Irrespective of gender, the most common reason was 'behaviour'. The largest gender difference was also found in this category, with the wife citing this as ground for divorce 16 percent more often than the husband.

The average age at which people in England and Wales get married has been getting older since the 1970s, with the average age of men marrying women rising from 27.4 in 1972 to 39.7 by 2019, with the average age for women marrying men increasing from 24.7 to 37.3 in the same time period. Since 2014, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, the average age for men marrying men has fluctuated between 39.5 and 40.8, while the average age for females marrying females has fluctuated between 36.4 and 37.4.

August was the most popular month for weddings in England and Wales in 2022, with 33,676 marriages taking place in this month. Unsurprisingly, the other Summer months of June and July were also popular choices, as well as September. With just 6,367 weddings occurring in January, this was the least popular month for weddings. When is the most popular day for a wedding? In 2022, Saturday was the most popular day of the week for weddings, with Friday a distant second. In fact, during that year, the top 31 dates for weddings were all Saturdays, with 3,500 weddings taking place on Saturday July 30, the most popular date for holding a wedding in that year. Monday was the least popular day of the week for a wedding in 2022, while Christmas Day (Sunday 25, December) had just three weddings taking place, the fewest of any date in that year. Cost of weddings on the rise The average cost of a wedding has increased from around 17,300 British pounds in 2021 to approximately 23,250 by 2024. Following the COVID-19 Pandemic, the cost of a wedding fell to 9,100 pounds in 2020, before recovering slightly to around by 2021. Wedding venues were the largest expense, costing around 6,286 pounds, with catering also setting people back by around 4,419 pounds. When compared with other countries, UK weddings cost less than those in the United States, Spain, Italy and Canada, but more than France, Portugal and Mexico, among other countries.

The mean age at first marriage in Spain was, along with Sweden, one of the highest in the European Union. Based on this setup, it is no wonder that the Spanish autonomous communities featured quite elevated numbers - particularly in the Canary Islands, where the average age at first marriage stood at over 41 years old for men and over 38 for women in 2023. Easy come easy go Marriage might be undergoing a declining popularity among Spaniards, or so it would seem by its national (heterosexual) marriage figures, which have experienced a slight decrease overtime. In 2023, the Balearic Islands recording the highest numbers on the list of marriage rate in Spain, with a rate of 4.43 marriages per 1,000 people. Moreover, Spain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe, with 85.5 divorces per 100 marriages carried out in this country in 2020. Ageing: a common problem across the continent The age at first marriage is not the only digit that is on the rise in Spain. Data related to age in the Mediterranean country essentially behaves in a similar fashion as the rest of its European counterparts, whose population is also slowly but surely getting older. In 2023, the life expectancy at birth in Spain stood at 83.77 years, one of the highest in the world.