A recent report by the Office for National Statistics has looked at the development of civil partnerships in England and Wales since their introduction in December 2005.

Key findings of the report include:

• The number of civil partnerships in England and Wales peaked immediately after the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force. Many couples are likely to have waited years to formalise their relationship and therefore chose to do so after civil partnerships became legally recognised.
• In December 2005 and the first quarter of 2006, two thirds of civil partnerships were to male couples. This proportion gradually decreased. By 2010 more women than men formed civil partnerships.
• Males are on average older than females when they enter into a civil partnership.
• The average age of those who have registered a civil partnership so far is considerably higher than that for marriage but has been decreasing.
• The number of civil partnership dissolutions has increased year on year since 2007.
• Early figures suggest that marriages are more likely to end in divorce than civil partnerships are to end in dissolution, although this may be distorted by a high proportion of civil partnerships being formed initially to couples who had already been together a significant length of time.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.1.0.