Recession blamed for rise in divorce rate

The summer of 2010 might have produced one of the most unlikely of political marriages, but away from the Downing Street garden, it would seem the picture was not quite so rosy.

For the first time since 2003, divorce rates in the UK rose last year, by a not insignificant 4.9 per cent. The most common cause: "unreasonable behaviour".

More than 132,200 couples had their marriages ended in 2010, compared with 126,496 the year before, show figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Civil partnership dissolutions also rose but, unlike marriages, the number of civil partnerships is rising rapidly. Of the marriages that ended, the average length was 11.4 years. Half of divorcing couples had at least one child under 16 living at home.

The government statisticians who compiled the figures suggested that the dire state of the economy could be to blame.

"[The results] could be consistent with the theory recession is associated with an increased risk in divorce, but with a delayed impact," the ONS report said, a theory that divorce lawyers were quick to echo.

"This is a blip," said Marilyn Stowe, senior partner at Stowe Family Law. "In 2009, when the recession really hit, couples were deciding not to get divorced. - Independent