Number of religious marriages hits all-time low as couples favour more 'social' ceremonies

The number of religious marriages in the UK has hit an all-time low as couples opt for “more social” ceremonies, new figures have revealed.

Fewer than a quarter (24 per cent) of all marriages in 2016 were religious ceremonies, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

There were just 60,069 religious marriages, falling by 4.1 per cent from the previous year and by almost half (48 per cent) from two decades ago.

The ONS claims this is partly due to the long-term decline in the overall number of marriages – marriage rates for opposite-sex couples in 2016 were lower at all ages compared with 2006 – but also the rise in popularity of civil ceremonies.

Since 1992, civil marriages have increasingly outnumbered religious marriages every year.

Kanak Ghosh, from ONS’s vital statistics outputs branch, says: “Marriage rates remain at historical lows despite a small increase in the number of people who got married in 2016.

“Most couples are preferring to do so with a civil ceremony and for the first time ever, less than a quarter of everyone who married had a religious ceremony.”

While the exact reason for the decline in religious ceremonies is unknown, the rising cost of weddings is likely to be a factor.

The average wedding in the UK costs £32,273, a figure that has increased by £5,112 – or 19 per cent – from £27,161 the previous year.

The ONS figures also revealed that in the first two years following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the UK in 2014, just 61 couples married through religious ceremonies.

The number of same-sex couples who chose to have a civil marriage increased by 3.6 per cent compared with 2015, while those who chose to have a religious marriage declined by 4.2 per cent.

The average age at which couples are choosing to get married is also on the rise. For marriages of opposite-sex couples, the average age for men marrying in 2016 was 37.9 years, while for women it was 35.5 years.

This was a slight increase for both men and women from the previous year and continued the overall rise recorded since the 1970s.

The average age at marriage for same-sex couples in 2016 was slightly higher at 40.8 years for men and 37.4 years for women.