The growth of cohabitation in Britain has led to a decrease in the numbers divorcing, latest statistics suggest. One reason appears to be that many couples who would have previously married are now cohabiting instead and this is reducing the numbers who are divorcing.

According to The Daily Telegraph, new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the overall number of divorces in Britain – some 130,473 couples – decreased by 3% in 2013. Broken down, the decrease, to 9.8 per 1,000 for married men or women, was the lowest rate of divorce since 1975.

The figure stands against a surge in the number of couples opting for cohabitation over marriage, with the ONS recording an increase of 30% in such living arrangements in just a decade.

Commenting on the figures, Jo Edwards of Resolution, a family law body, said: “The rise in cohabiting couples, the fastest growing type of household in Britain, may play a role [in divorce rates, but] cohabitation separation is not included in the statistics.”

Aside from the growth in cohabiting rates, the ONS figures also reveal that there has been a recent upswing in the numbers of people getting married, going against years of decline in the numbers entering into matrimony. Additionally, despite the divorce rate standing at 42%, the ONS found evidence that the rate is falling among those couples who have wed since 2000. The figures show, for example, that in 2013, for couples married in 2005, the divorce rate was 16%, while for those married in 2004, the rate was 17%. But these figures stand against a divorce rate of 20% for younger couples married in the year 1996.