The fastest-growing kind of family in the UK is one featuring an unmarried cohabiting couple.

Nearly one in five families, or 19 per cent, are made up of those living together but not married, with or without children. There were 3.6 million such families in 2022, an increase of 700,000 from 2.9 million in 2012.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this “accounted for almost three-quarters of the total growth in the number of families in the UK over the ten-year period”.

Married-couple families remained the most common type, accounting for 65 per cent.