Family law news :: IRM Law

Britain has the highest rate of divorce in the U.K

A country steeped in culture, tradition and heritage, Britain brings to our mind the history of royalty, of illustrious writers, artists, scientific discoveries. However, in the recent times, Britain has earned yet another facet to itself. As per recent survey, Britain is now infamously known as the place with the highest divorce rate not just in the U.K but throughout the European Union.

The history of divorce rates in England and Wales reveals that while the trend in increase of divorce in the 1990s was minimal, the reason behind the divorce being changes in behaviour and attitudes in society. In the next one decade, there was a decline in the divorce rate. This trend was in tandem with the number of people getting married during this period. The common factor that played its part in reducing marriage and divorce rates was the increasing drift towards cohabitation. However, from the year 2010 until the recent times there has been a steady rise in the divorce rates with the figure for 2010 standing at 4.9% on the 2009 total.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that while in 2011 the number of divorces in Britain was 117,588; in 2012 the figure was 118,140. Reports from the ONS further revealed that most divorces were for first marriages and occurred within the first 10 years of marriage. From the reports it also became evident that in the younger age group, more women than men were filing for divorce while it was the reverse case incase of older age groups.

So, what situations have led to the new trend of increase in divorce rates in Britain today?

Researchers today believe that with the rise in divorce rates in Britain in the last decade, 40% marriages are likely to end in divorce while 1 in 3 children will experience parental divorce before the age of 16. In the recent years, with law amendments and introduction of new laws by the Law Commission, divorce rates have significantly increased in Britain, what with laws becoming less stringent, hassle-free and economic. However, marriage counsellors and sociologists have observed that the fault lies not just in the laws but in society at large.

It has been observed that the root cause behind the highest divorce rate in Britain is the rise of working women and their financial independence. With no financial security to worry about 7 out of 10 women file for divorce to end an unhappy marriage. Often an imbalance in professional and personal lives between couples can also culminate in divorce.

With a fast paced life to cope with, couples are always in need of emotional security in the form of love, care and companionship. Often emotional expectation from each other continues to increase to a point where separation and divorce is the only option that couples turn to.

Unlike the previous generation where holding on to marital ties was a compulsion imposed by relatives on the couple, the change of social values and the nuclear family trend today, goes to show that divorce and separation today are no longer considered a stigma in society. Hence couples today are no longer afraid of the social consequences of divorce and find it easy to walk out of a broken marriage.

Before dwelling upon the measures that could be taken to curb the increase in divorce rates in England and Wales, it is important we learn more about the circumstances during which divorce most happens.

Couples living in separation due to professional commitments or otherwise are most likely to end up with divorce
Teenage marriages are also most likely to end in divorce
Researchers claim that childless couples are most likely to get divorced
Divorce among working class section is higher than the upper classes in society