Since the 1970s, the marriage rate for opposite-sex couples in England and Wales has declined considerably, with the marriage rate per thousand population falling from 84 to 20.3 for men between 1972 and 2022, and from 63.5 to 18.3 for women, during the same time period. Three spikes in the marriage rate can be seen in 1915, 1920 and 1940, all likely influenced by the impact of the First and Second World Wars. The drop in the marriage rate in 2020 can be attributed to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Number of marriages that took place in England and Wales by age, sex, previous partnership status and civil or religious ceremony.

The marriage rate in England and Wales, defined as the number of people marrying per 1,000 unmarried people in the population aged 16 and over, was 17.9 in 2019. Before 2020, which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the lowest marriage rate in the provided time period.

This report analyses the marriage rate in England and Wales. The figures represent the number of persons marrying per 1,000 people of all ages in each financial year. The data is sourced from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in addition to estimates by IBISWorld. The data represents the marriage rate for both opposite and same-sex marriage, but excludes civil partnerships.

Annual statistics on the number of marriages and marriage rates. Statistics are also included on the day, month and quarter of occurrence. Some tables provide data back to 1837.

In 2019, 253,112 marriages took place in the UK in 2019, a decrease from 2018 when there were 270,286. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were just 100,899 marriages in 2020, the fewest during this time period.

Statistics on marriages which took place in England and Wales which include figures on cohabitation before marriage. The cohort analyses provide statistics on the proportion of men and women who have ever married or remarried by certain ages by year of birth.

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.

In 2022, approximately 207,004 marriages took place via a civil ceremony in England and Wales, compared with 41,915 religious ceremonies. Since 1992, there have been more civil ceremonies in every year than religious ones. There were far fewer ceremonies taking place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns at the time.

These datasets are part of "Marriage and civil partnership status in England and Wales: Census 2021", a release of results from the 2021 Census for England and Wales.

To ensure that individuals cannot be identified in the data, population counts have been rounded to the nearest five and counts under 10 have been suppressed.

Figures may differ slightly in future releases because of the impact of removing rounding and applying further statistical processes.

Quality notes can be found here

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021 was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

Legal partnership status

Classifies a person according to their legal marital or registered civil partnership status on Census Day, 21 March 2021. The definition of legal partnership status is the same as the 2011 Census variable “Marital status” but has been updated for Census 2021 to reflect the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019 which made provision for the extension of civil partnerships to couples who are not of the same sex.

Presents data on civil partnerships formed and dissolved in the UK.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Civil Partnership Statistics, United Kingdom

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)

Provisional summary statistics on marriages which took place in England and Wales. Some historic data are also provided for comparison.

Ages of husband and wife at marriage, and analyses of the percentage of marriages ending in divorce by year of marriage and anniversary, and proportions of men and women who had ever divorced by year of birth and age.

Saturday was the most popular day of the week for weddings in England and Wales in 2022, with 107,543 of 246,897 weddings in this year taking place on that day. Friday was the second-most popular day, with 44,813 weddings taking place on this day.

Marital status projections are produced for England and Wales and cover both legal marital status and (opposite sex) co-residential cohabitation.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Marriage projections for England and Wales