'Only rich people are getting married', new research suggests, as ‘marriage gap’ widens
15 March 2025, 18:37 | Updated: 15 March 2025, 23:27
Rich people are getting married at a way higher rate than those with lower incomes as the ‘marriage gap’ between rich and poor hits a record 51%.
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Rich people are getting married at significantly higher rates than those from lower incomes, new research suggests.
Only one in five couples from the poorest backgrounds are getting married, compared to almost three quarters of high-earning households.
Researchers found that 71% of children born into a higher-income family have married parents, as opposed to 20% of the poorest families.
This widens the ‘marriage gap’ between rich and poor to around 51%, the study from the Marriage Foundation has found.
Researchers believe the high cost of getting married might be an obstacle to those wanting to tie the knot, as support for marriage is still consistent among all income groups.
The study also found that newborns from the poorest households are nine times less likely to have a dad living there.
“What has been almost completely overlooked and ignored in discussion of the trend away from marriage – a 78% drop among men and 73% drop among women in marriage rates since 1972 – is the presence of a marriage gap between rich and poor,” the report said.
“Quite simply, marriage is still the norm among the richest families but is increasingly the exception among the poorest families.”
The report shows the marriage gap has been widening for the last decade, partly due to Covid restrictions.
Harry Benson, Marriage Foundation's Research Director said: "Over the last decade the marriage gap has worsened considerably. While a clear majority of rich couples continue marry, enjoying all the benefits it brings, among the poorest couples just one in five will marry.
“This is calamitous for their children and more broadly for society which must pick up the pieces of family breakdown.
“Marriage acts as a buffer to poverty, while children who grow up with both parents in the household, do better at school and generally have better mental health. Yet no senior politician has made a major speech about marriage since 2014 and the only acknowledgement of the institution in the tax and benefits system is a paltry £250 allowance that doesn’t even come close to closing the couple penalty that sees those on the lowest incomes or benefits lose significant amounts of money when they live together.
“Our research says that the couple penalty remains the biggest barrier to those in the bottom socio-economic groups from tying the knot.”
The think tank has called on the government to take action to make it easier to get married and scrap the ‘couple penalty’ that “sees those on the lowest incomes or benefits lose significant amounts of money when they live together.”
