They aren't into marriage any more?  What's with the near-geriatric age for those who do step up to the plate and say 'I do'?  Maybe not exactly geriatric but edging ever closer to very few fertile eggie-wegs for the brides.  If the age of marriage reaches 40, there's a danger of deciding it's not worth the trouble, so set in one's way you are apt to become.  Oh dear, this is a troubling development. Now come citizens of the UK, why not propose to someone and tie the knot soon!  Do your part for the Queen's domain.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Well, actually, Chris, changing the meaning of marriage and stretching the definition to be all-inclusive , is, and will be, a part of the problem. That is, if one perceives a declining marriage rate as a societal problem.

The problem of the steep decline in marriage, is already being demonstrated in Scandinavian countries where (and I can't remember the stats offhand) more and more children are being born to unwed mothers. I'm pretty sure there are more unwed mothers than wed. Even when you include the new definition of marriage as two members of the same sex, the numbers have declined.

When marriage becomes inclusive to this innovative category of either two men or two women, the traditional (and dictionary) meaning becomes squishy and then, in time, meaningless. At a certain point if the pendulum continues its swing, marriage will become the vestigal appendix of the former foundation of societies -- a distant memory. Think the Books in Fahrenheit 411. Throw into the mix all the surrogate-mothered, turkey-baster, third world "orphans" purchased by wealthy first worlders, test-tube, frozen embryoed, and the like, well, all I can say is future geneology buffs will have a harder time than those of the past.

Susan

PS  A good article on the declining marriage rates among parents in Scandinavian countries from three years ago. 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

With over half of marriages ending in divorce, I think it's sort of, "Let's be together, until we don't feel like being together anymore", without the legal horsepucky.

Erwin. No one can make you get hitched , except maybe what we call over here a " shotgun wedding",and that's not the case Bud.

If its just the young lady, tell here to please take a walk. No ? Third parties ? hmmm

Available for PMs at this point my man.

......

My take is people are trying to have it all - they want to have a few dozen partners, a stellar career, maybe some kids...before getting married.  They leave it so late, they've become set in their individualist, self-centred ways and therefore less marriages actually work out.

There are going to be a lot of single, lonely, miserable pensioners in the decades to come imho...

Thanks for the short-sighted analysis, dude. I'll be sure to let all my single 30-something friends know that we are going about this all wrong...me personally, I'm a couple dozen partners short of the mark, no kids, and I've gone back to school to redirect my career to something more emotionally fulfilling. I wish I'd known all this sooner...I could have spent the last three years f**king everything that moved and saved a lot of tuition money to boot. I'll be thinking of you when I'm single, lonely, miserable, and collecting my pension.

Oh wait. No I won't.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

If I could marry Manda, I would

I've been married twice; the first time he turned out to be a little too handy with his fists for my liking. The second time, he turned out to be gay. Not a lot I can do about that, although it would have been useful information to have before we got married...

My current partner has already told me he intends ask me to marry him, and I will accept when he does propose. I think there's a lot of reasons people don't stay together after marriage, as there are a multitude of reasons why some don't get married too. I haven't been put off by my past experiences, and yes I do believe in marriage; particularly as we plan to have a family (if everything goes to plan!)

I certainly don't think us Brits are unique in this. It's a personal thing, really...everyone knows in their own mind how they feel about getting married. Me, I'm just hoping to catch up with Liz Taylor's record...

Edit:  I was 19 the first time I got married; 30 the second time; so maybe I'll have hit the big 40 when I do it again.

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

That old saw about 50% of marriages ending in divorce is a misleading and probably, for all intents and purposes, a useless stat. Here are some more accurate figures with breakdowns on who divorces and when within the United States .

UK in 2004:

Divorce rate highest since 1996

The number of divorces granted in the UK has reached its highest level since 1996, new statistics reveal.

In 2004, the number rose to 167,116 from 166,737 in 2003, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. In 1996 there were 171,700 divorces.

Men and women aged 25 to 29 continued to have the highest divorce rates.

Charity Relate said the rise was partly due to pressure being put on family life by an increasingly "individualistic way of living".

 

DIVORCES IN ENGLAND AND WALES 2004 Divorce rate is 14 per 1,000 marriages Average age at divorce for men is 42.7 years Average age at divorce for women is 40.2 years Average length of marriage is 11.5 years 69% between couples where neither were married before Source: ONS

The number of divorces in England and Wales alone dropped slightly by just 91 to 153,399.

The average age at divorce in England and Wales saw a slight increase to 42.7 years for men and 40.2 years for women, compared with 42.3 years and 39.8 years respectively in 2003.

And the average length of marriage for divorces granted increased from 11.3 years to 11.5 years.

'Changing society'

The rise in the number of UK divorces is the fourth successive annual increase.

Cheryl Turner, head of public policy for Relate, said the increase was related to a "changing society" in which life was "moving at a faster pace".

 

"As this happens, the pressure on families grows," she told the BBC News website.

"There's no one specific thing but common sense tells us that this 24/7 lifestyle is a very individualistic way of living - we look out for ourselves and we're not as good at community as we used to be.

"The pressure on families to deliver so many different things at a time when the instinct is to think about yourself means more people are splitting up."

Counselling increase

People were sometimes leaving relationships before spending enough time and effort trying to save them, Ms Turner said.

But Relate had been buoyed by a 10% increase in the number of people using their service last year, she added.

The latest statistics, released on Wednesday, also show that in England and Wales more than two-thirds - 69% - of divorces in 2004 were granted to the wife.

In 52% of these cases the fact proven for the divorce was the husband's behaviour.

It was also revealed that 53% of couples divorcing had at least one child under the age of 16 - 2% less than in 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Erwin - even when you're being a sour, sarcastic atheist stick in the mud, I still love your work. 

Susan - I think the article is on the money.  Self-centred people generally won't do as well in marriages where you need to be thinking about someone else, or several someone elses once you have kids.