Divorces up by 18 per cent in 2019, but statistics are partly due to backlog from previous years
There were 107,599 opposite-sex divorces in 2019, an increase of 18.4% from 90,871 in 2018. This is the highest number of opposite-sex divorces recorded since 2014.
The 18% figure is also the largest annual percentage increase in the number of divorces since 1972, following the introduction of the The Divorce Reform Act 1969, which made it easier for couples to divorce upon separation.
However, the Office of National Statistics reports that the size of the increase is at least partly attributed to a backlog of divorce petitions from 2017. These were processed by the Ministry of Justice in early 2018, some of which will have translated into decree absolutes (completed divorces) in 2019.
This is likely to have contributed to both the low number of divorces in 2018 (lowest since 1971) and the increase seen in last year’s figures.
The Office of National Statistics also found that in 2019, the most common grounds for opposite-sex divorce was unreasonable behaviour.
When considering same-sex divorces, this is the fifth year that divorces of same-sex couples has been possible. The introduction of marriages of same-sex couples cam into place in March 2014, from which time the number of same-sex divorces has increased each year. This reflects the increasing size of the same-sex married population since 2014.
For the full Office of National Statistics report into divorces in England and Wales, click here.