The number of couples getting married in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest since records began in 1862 according to official records released Wednesday. Across Britain as a whole, the numbers of those tying the note fell by 10 percent compared with the previous year.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there were 244,710 marriages in England and Wales in 2005, down from 273,070 in 2004. In 1896 there were 242,764 marriages, the lowest recorded number since records began in 1862.
Just 2.42 percent of unmarried males aged 16 or over got hitched in 2005 -- down from 2.78 percent the previous year. Some 2.16 percent of unmaried women of the same age wed, down from 2.46 percent in 2004.
Statisticians suggested the falling rates could be attributed to a change in the law on February 1, 2005 which was designed to discourage so-called "sham marriages" among non-European nationals seeking immigrant or asylum status.
Other findings in the study include that couples are waiting longer to get married: in the 10 years since 1995, the average age at marriage for men rose to 36.2 (up from 35.8 in 2004) and 33.6 for women (up from 33.1).
For the whole of the United Kingdom, there were 283,730 weddings in 2005 -- down nearly 10 percent since 2004 when there were 313,550.
Marriages in Scotland fell four percent to 30,881 and two percent in Northern Ireland to 8,140.
