theTrumpet.com

The number of households in Britain consisting of a traditional family has roughly halved in the past 50 years.

As of the second quarter of 2009, only 21 percent of households are made up of a couple with dependent children. That figure was 38 percent in 1961 according to the Office of National Statistics (ons).

Instead, many people are now living alone. In 1961 there were only 1.7 million one-person households. Now there are over 7 million.

A survey taken between 1999 and 2001 found that 26 percent of Britons agreed with the statement, “Marriage is an outdated institution.” The ons report highlighted the fact that the number of people getting married has indeed been declining. “With the exception of an increase between 2002 and 2004, there has been a steady decline since the early 1970s,” the report said. “And this was the lowest number of marriages recorded in a single year in England and Wales since 1895, when there were just over 228,000 marriages.”

Fifty percent of men and 71 percent of women born in 1956 were married by the time they turned 25. But only 8 percent of men and 16 percent of women born in 1981 were married by age 25. “This reflects both a delay and a decline in marriage,” the report stated.

Last year, 45 percent of all live births in England and Wales took place outside of marriage. In 1971, fewer then 10 percent of live births occurred outside of marriage.

The people of Britain are increasingly showing that they believe they have no need for marriage. But is the traditional family outdated? Does society really need marriage? For the answers, read our booklet Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete? •