Cohabitation 'the norm' in modern Britain says survey
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Marriage is less popular now than for at least half a century and the trend towards cohabitation shows no sign of levelling off, according to a new survey by Government statisticians.
The survey, published yesterday, suggests that the Church of England report which last week proposed lifting the stigma on "living in sin" caught the nation's mood. Cohabitation, according to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, has become the "norm".
The latest issue of Population Trends published by the OPCS also suggests that relative death rates for the lowest social classes worsened in the 1980s and examines suicide "clusters" among health workers and in inner cities and rural areas.
On cohabitation, the study found that by the early 1990s, 70 per cent of unmarried women were living with their future husband, compared with five per cent in the mid-1960s. For second marriages, the figures are even higher - 90 per cent in the 1990s compared with 30 per cent three decades ago.
John Haskey, the author of the study, said: "Premarital cohabitation has become the norm. It's a majority practice."
Periods of cohabitation are also lengthening - from one year to those marrying for the first time in the early 1970s to two years now.
Coupled with later marriage and the growth in single-person homes, marriages in 1993 had fallen to 299,000 - the lowest since the Second World War trough in 1943.
The previous low point was at the heart of the Great Depression in the mid-1920s. However, the number of first marriages, 182,000 in 1993, is the lowest since 1889, when the population was much smaller.
According to the OPCS, there is no link between the economy and marriage. However, one 19th-century study showed that there were more marriages in years of good harvests.
Since a postwar peak in 1972, when there were 426,000 marriages, there has been a 30 per cent drop and the number "seems likely to decline further," the OPCS predicts.
Some of the trends identifified - cohabiting longer and marrying later - may level off but there is no sign of this happening. Scandinavia, where such trends are more advanced, provides no evidence of a "plateau" effect. However, the study says most people "still seem set to marry at some point".
Another study in Population Trends finds that occupations in the highest social classes have the worst suicide rates and include several "medical- related" professions, such as vets, pharmacists, dentists and doctors. Suggested causes include high stress and dissatisfaction among health professionals coupled with easier access to drugs.
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