EXCLUSIVE Divorce rates for EVERY year of marriage revealed: See how many couples who tied the knot when you did are already over - as figures pinpoint exactly when the 'itch' strikes

Daily Mail​

15 hours ago

Enter your wedding anniversary into MailOnline's new calculator to see how many couples have divorced already.
Our tool – built using records from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – tracks back to 1983.
In incredible detail, it reveals precisely how many couples who tied the knot in the same year as you have already split.
The ONS figures pointed to the mid-90s as being the worst years to get married – with divorce rates peaking in around 1994.
Forty-two per cent of couples who wedded then had already divorced less than 25 years of saying 'I do'.
Almost a quarter broke up before reaching their 10th anniversary. One in 10 did not even last five years.
In contrast, fewer than 17 per cent of couples who married in 2013 were divorced 10 years later. And just 8 per cent who tied the knot in 1963 had split after a decade.
ONS data also shows there's truth behind the 'five-year fizzle' and 'seven-year itch' theories – notoriously turbulent periods of marriage.
Divorces most frequently occur within this window, MailOnline found after analysing 40 years of data.
Over the last decade, 183,411 wedded couples (16 per cent) had split after being together for five to seven years.
Divorces after 30 years were, in fact, more common. However, the ONS did not state the exact years in which they happened.
US-based couples therapist Gina Guddat said: 'The five-to-seven-year mark is often when couples hit a major bump in the road.
'By that point many have had children, and the love and respect they once shared can start to wear down.'
'Many couples divorce at the seven-year point, but that isn't the only risk point.
'It also happens at year 14, year 21, and around year 28 as their children gain more independence.
'By year 28, they may be looking towards retirement and thinking they don't want to spend all their time with their partner.'
In the 1980s, divorce rates peaked after three years of marriage.
Over time, however, the itch has started to occur later and later in relationships.
For example, the eight-year mark proved the most common breaking point for divorces filed in 2021.
Angela Vossen, founder of Sextasy, described as London's only sex and relationship coaching practice, told MailOnline that while the itches are very real and perfectly common, they don't have to present a significant problem.
She said: 'Couples can navigate these periods through open communication, shared activities, addressing stressors and prioritising intimacy.
'Some couples maintain and increase satisfaction over time with intentional effort.'
Relationship coach Shelley Whitehead told MailOnline that the trend of short-lived marriages could be down to how people date and plan their lives together.
She said: 'I've earned the nickname 'The Queen of Go Slow' - individuals and couples should slow down and really explore if values and standards are compatible.
'Do they both have the willingness to do the work when love becomes less about butterflies and more about real life decisions? People are assuming that chemistry means compatibility and skipping the slow, sacred work of getting to know someone deeply beyond the romance'.
Data released separately by the ONS earlier this week showed the number of births in England and Wales rose last year, the first increase since 2021, helped by a 'notable' jump in babies born to fathers aged 60 and over.
Some 594,677 live births occurred in 2024, up 0.6 per cent from 591,072 in 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Births remain at historically low levels, with 2024 ranking as the third lowest total since 1977.
But the small rise means the broad downwards trend seen in recent years has, for the time being, come to a halt.