Married couples are in a minority for the first time since records began as fewer people choose to tie the knot, new figures indicate.

They showed that couples are less likely to get married now than ever before, with the number of weddings at a 100-year low. The marriage rate, a more accurate guide to the long-term trend, also fell sharply to a record low in 2007.

Experts say that since the number of marriages is closely tied to the fortunes of the economy the proportion of married couples is likely to shrink even further in 2009.

Only one in 50 single women now marries each year, and only one in 43 single men. Those are the lowest marriage rates since they were first calculated in 1862. At that time weddings were largely the preserve of the wealthy, with everyone else settling for common law marriages.

Data due in June is now expected to show only 48.8 per cent of the over16 population had marriage status in 2007, according to analysis conducted by The Times. When these records first began in 1971, more than 68 per cent of the adult population were married. It would be the first time that the married proportion of the adult population has been recorded as dropping below 50 per cent.

There were only 231,450 marriages in 2007, down 3.3 per cent on the year before. The only year that has had a smaller number of weddings was 1895, the first year a count was made, when there were 228,204.

The figures, for England and Wales, have been released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) a week after a report from a leading children’s charity said that a third of 16-year-olds were living with one parent, and that children of separated parents were far more likely to perform poorly at school and suffer behavioural problems.

Marriage is likely to be a political battleground at the next general election. The Conservatives have promised to offer tax breaks to married couples, while Labour says that financial help should be directed at the most needy families.

Anastasia de Waal, director of family and education at the Civitas think-tank, predicted that the credit crunch would keep marriage on a downward trend. “This is not a case of people not wanting to get married, but about it being increasingly out of their reach, and that is going to get worse in the economic crisis,” she said.

“Our research shows that 70 per cent of people actively want to get married with only a minute number believing that it is old fashioned. But either the cost of the wedding or the desire to be more financially secure, such as owning their own home, was making them put it off.”

Justine Devenney, head of policy at One Plus One, which researches relationships and breakdowns, also forecast that the figures would fall further next year. “The average cost of a wedding is now over £20,000,” she said. “So it is easy to see why, if you are worried about redundancy or are a young couple who can’t get a foot on the housing ladder, getting married may not be a priority. Marriage rates go up when the economy is strong, so we may see people choosing to wait till things are less uncertain.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “The Government supports marriage in principle and in practice but accepts that stable families may come in a variety of forms and some people may choose to cohabit. The Government will continue to work to strengthen the family unit in whatever form it may take.”

The marriage rates for men is 21.6 in every thousand of unmarried men over 16, compared with 23 in 2006. The rate for women dropped from 20.7 to 19.7. The number of marriages has fallen by a quarter since 1991, according to the ONS.

The data showed that two thirds of the marriages were the first for both parties. Remarriages for both parties accounted for 18 per cent of all marriages. The average age at first marriage for men increased to 31.9 years and to 29.8 for women, compared with 31.8 and 29.7 respectively the year before. In 1970 the average age for marriage for men was 24 and for women 20.

Church weddings are also in decline. There were 77,490 religious weddings, just under 56,000 of them Anglican ceremonies. Numbers of church weddings have halved since the early 1980s. The only type of wedding that proved more popular was the ceremony in “approved premises” such as hotels, stately homes and football grounds. There were 99,760 such weddings, up from 95,760 in 2006.

Jill Kirby of the centre-right think-tank Centre for Policy Studies, said: “The decline of marriage is worrying because of the very clear evidence of the importance to children of growing up in a married family. Research this week has shown that Britain stands out in Europe and the Western world in doing nothing in the tax and benefit system to support marriage.”

A spokesman for Marriage Care, which helps to prepare people for marriages and offers a counselling service, said: “There are many reasons for the figures but I think a lot of people have experienced parental break-ups and the pain involved, and that puts some people off despite all the known positives of marriage. People are much more independent these days.”

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