Fewer and fewer people choose not to get married.
1. The family in Britain is changing.
The once typical British family headed by two parents has undergone substantial changes during the twentieth century. In particular there has been a rise in the number of single-person households, which increased from 18 to 29 per cent of all households between 1971 and 2002. By the year 2020, it is estimated that there will be more single people than married people. Fifty years ago this would have been socially unacceptable in Britain. In the past, people got married and stayed married. Divorce was very difficult, expensive and took a long time. Today, people’s views on marriage are changing. Many couples, mostly in their twenties or thirties, live together (cohabit) without getting married. Only about 60% of these couples will eventually get married. In the past, people married before they had children, but now about 40% of children in Britain are born to unmarried (cohabiting) parents. In 2000, around a quarter of unmarried people between the ages of 16 and 59 were cohabiting in Great Britain. Cohabiting couples are also starting families without first being married. Before 1960 this was very unusual, but in 2001 around 23 per cent of births in the UK were to cohabiting couples.
2. Gay-marriage is legalized in Britain.
A bill to legalize gay marriage in Britain passed a crucial hurdle in parliament in the year of 2013, despite efforts by lawmakers from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party to wreck the plans. Members of the House of Commons voted by 366 to 161 in favor of the same sex marriage bill, a majority of 205, and it will now go to the unelected House of Lords for consideration. Then gay people can apply for “civil partnership” to the council. They also can adopt children and bring up them like other families.
Why there are fewer and fewer people choosing not to get married?
1. The expense of wedding is rather high.
In 2004 the average wedding in the UK cost £16,000, and prices have risen since then, by 2012 it stood at £18,500, and according to Brides Magazine in 2015, it is a whopping £24,716! It’s sure to become a financial burden for people to get married.
2. Some people think little of marriage certificate.
In some people’s view, marriage certificate is just a piece of paper, which can’t guarantee happy marriage or stable family membership. Therefore, they just ignore it or sniff at it. That’s why there are a lot of people just live together like an overall family without that marriage certificate. My host family is just one of them. However, it was thought to be a shame several decades ago.
Edited by Christina at Brighton
