A poll of over 2,000 adults in the UK found that money worries top the list of reasons why marriages break down, with one in five saying it was the biggest cause of marital strife.

Over a third of those questioned said that financial pressures were the biggest challenge to their marriage, while a fifth said that most of their arguments were about money. One in five of those polled blamed their partner for their money worries, accusing them of overspending or failing to budget properly.

The latest figures available from the Office for National Statistics show that 107,000 couples divorced in 2016 – up 5.8 per cent from the previous year.

“Money is always a common issue and if one person feels that their partner is not pulling their weight financially or at least trying to then it can very quickly cause resentment to grow,” said Lorraine Harvey, family lawyer at law firm Slater and Gordon, who commissioned the survey.