Social Trends 2009

The annual study into social trends released today by the Office of National Statistics gives an insight into the state of the nation based on factors such as health, wealth, employment, travel patterns, environmental behaviour and the changing nature of British households. Figures in this year’s social trend suggest marriage is becoming increasingly unpopular and a third of men between the age of 20 and 34 live with their parents. Below are the key points relating households and families.


• There were 25.0 million households in Great Britain in Q2 2008, a 4 per cent increase on Q2 2001 when there were 23.9 million.

• Around 10 million dependent children in the UK lived with two parents in the second quarter of 2008, the most common family arrangement. Of these, the majority (8.3 million) lived with married parents.

• In the second quarter of 2008, 1.8 million men in the UK aged 20 to 34 lived with their parents compared with 1.1 million women in the same age group.

• Marriages registered in England and Wales fell by 3.3 per cent in 2007 to 231,450, which is the lowest number of marriages since 1895 (228,204). In Scotland, marriages decreased slightly from 29,898 in 2006 to 29,866 in 2007, while in Northern Ireland marriages increased 5 per cent to 8,687.

• The majority of people who married in the UK in 2006 did so for the first time: around 71 per cent of men and 72 per cent of women.

Full report Source Office of National Statistics 15 April 2009