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Divorces in England and Wales: 2022
Annual divorce and civil partnership dissolution numbers and rates, partnership type, to whom granted and duration of marriage.
Main points
- There were 80,057 divorces granted in England and Wales in 2022; a 29.5% decrease compared with 2021 (113,505 divorces) and the lowest number of divorces since 1971.
- In 2022, the median duration of marriages that ended in divorce (the mid-point of all durations) was 12.9 years for opposite-sex couples and 7.5 and 6.3 years for male and female same-sex couples, respectively; the longest seen in our timeseries.
- Divorce rates in 2022 were 6.7 for men and 6.6 for women per 1,000 of the male or female married population (including both opposite-sex and same-sex couples); lower than rates in 2021, with 9.5 for men and 9.4 for women per 1,000 of the married population.
- There were 525 civil partnership dissolutions (including same-sex and opposite-sex couples) in 2022; a 22.8% decrease compared with 2021 (680 dissolutions) and the lowest recorded since 2010.
- The number of divorces and dissolutions granted during 2022 may have been affected by the introduction of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act, which came into effect on 6 April 2022; this act introduced new mandatory waiting periods at important stages, and other changes including allowing couples to end a partnership jointly, and the removal of grounds for divorce (also known as “Facts”).
- There were 7,394 divorces and 54 dissolutions (9.2% of all divorces and 10.3% of all dissolutions) granted under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act; 28.8% of these new-law divorces, and 61.1% of new-law dissolutions, were granted under joint application.
Full the report go to https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/divorce/bulletins/divorcesinenglandandwales/2022