Young Britons are marrying less and living with parents more often
A new Centre for Social Justice report describes a “relationship recession” among young adults in Britain, with marriage far less common than it was 50 years ago. It argues that difficulties meeting partners and moving in together could affect people’s wellbeing and the country’s future economy.
The report estimates there are 3.7 million fewer married people under 30 than in 1976, despite a larger young population; marriage rates are down 97 per cent for men in their early twenties and 90 per cent for people by age 30. Marriages have fallen from 4.5 million to about 790,000. Meanwhile, the share of 20 to 34-year-olds living with their parents rose from 20 per cent in 2008 to nearly 30 per cent in 2025, including 34.9 per cent of young men and 22.3 per cent of young women.
In short
- Marriage among young adults has fallen sharply since 1976.
- Nearly 30% of 20 to 34-year-olds lived with parents in 2025.
- The report cites housing costs and difficulty meeting partners.
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The case for
The decline in marriage and rise in young adults living with parents may signal real barriers to forming lasting relationships, including housing costs and financial insecurity. Supporters of the report’s concern could argue that stable partnerships can benefit wellbeing and family life, and that helping young people build independent lives is an important social and economic goal.
The case against
These figures do not by themselves show that young people are less able to form meaningful relationships or that marriage is the right measure of social wellbeing. People may be choosing different kinds of partnership, while living with parents can be a practical response to high housing costs; policy should address those pressures without treating marriage as the preferred outcome for everyone.
Explained simply
Marriage has become much less common among young adults in Britain over the past 50 years. The Centre for Social Justice, a policy research organisation, describes this change as part of a wider decline in relationships among younger people.
More people aged 20 to 34 now live with their parents than in 2008. The report links this partly to difficulties forming relationships and setting up a home, and says these trends may affect wellbeing and the economy.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Britain’s ‘relationship recession’: Young men are now 26 times more likely to live with their mother than wife by the time they turn 25”.