New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that couples in England and Wales are staying married for longer before separating, with the average length of a marriage ending in divorce reaching a record high of 13 years in 2025.
This is the longest duration since records began in 1963, and is up from a record low of 8.9 years in 1985. The ONS said overall divorce rates are stable, and lower than at peak levels seen in the 1980s-2000s when there were around 150,000 divorces per year.
Financial pressures behind the trend
Lisa Pepper, partner and specialist divorce lawyer at Osbornes Law, partly attributes the data to financial fears. She said: “Divorce is now more accessible than it ever has been in the past 60 years yet these incredible figures show that couples are staying together for a record amount of time.”
“You can start the guillotine of divorce by simply going online and logging into a portal, yet there is an amazing dichotomy in that marriages are lasting longer. This could show that marriage is alive and kicking, which is also illustrated by the number of couples signing pre nups going through the roof.”
“The less romantic reason is likely to be that couples can’t afford to get divorced and face the financial hand grenade that it results in. Couples are more hesitant to get divorced and trying things like mediation or couples therapy before going for the nuclear option as the consequences are often perceived as worse than continuing with their marriage.”
Divorce figures and trends
There were 105,002 divorces in England and Wales in 2025, made up of 102,879 opposite-sex couples and 2,123 same-sex couples. Last year, there were 959 civil partnership dissolutions, including 270 opposite-sex couples and 689 same-sex couples.
Same-sex divorces reached their highest level since same-sex marriage was introduced a decade earlier, with 2,123 divorces taking place in 2025. More recent marriages were less likely to end in divorce within the first 10 years than those which took place in the 1980s and 1990s, the ONS said.
Around one in 10 couples (9.9%) who married in 1965 had divorced by their 10th wedding anniversary, and this rose to almost a quarter (24.7%) for couples who married in 1995. But among couples who married in 2005, this decreased to around a fifth (20.7%) and for those who married in 2015 it had fallen to 16.3% being divorced by their 10th anniversary.
Reasons for the change
The ONS said the changes were “likely be caused by a range of factors including legislation changes, change over time in the average age at marriage, and changes in societal attitudes to divorce and dissolution”.
Greg Ceely, head of population life events at the ONS, said: “Divorce rates have remained stable over the past few years, but are lower than the peak levels in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Our latest findings show that people who divorce or dissolve a partnership are staying in the relationship for longer before it ends.”
