The UK has become vastly more socially liberal over the last forty years, new data shows, yet large swathes of the public remain socially conservative.

A study from the Policy Institute at King’s College London has been measuring 24 countries over a forty year period on their respective attitudes to issues like homosexuality, casual sex, divorce, abortion and euthanasia, asking respondents whether each was ‘justifiable’.

Despite the general liberalising trend, nonetheless there remains only a minority of UK residents (48%) who believe that abortion is always justifiable, with 64% thinking the same about divorce.

It is also striking that America and most of Europe are more conservative than Britain. Indeed, just 38% of Americans say divorce is always justified, and only 24% say the same about abortion.