Marriages becoming fewer and shorter

While divorce rates remain steady, new figures have shown that people are tending to wed later and only have one marriage.

Data gathered as part of the US Census revealed that 79 per cent of marriages that occurred between 1955 and 1959 reached 15 years, while just 57 per cent of those from 1985 to 1989 lasted as long.

More than half of those who would have reached their 25th anniversary by 2000 divorced before reaching it, the report revealed.

Baby boomers recorded the highest divorce rate, with 38 per cent of men born between 1945 and 1954 divorced by 2004 and 41 per cent of women.

First marriages that ultimately end in divorce tend to last on average eight years, and just 12 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women had a second marriage in 2004.

"We know that somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent of marriages dissolve," Barbara Risman from the Council on Contemporary Families told the New York Times.

"Now, when people marry, everyone wonders, is this one of those marriages that will be around for a while."

Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed that the divorce rate in England and Wales fell seven per cent to 12.2 divorcing people per 1,000 in 2006.

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