Civil Partnerships, 2008

Statistics on civil partnerships include data for the UK for the period up to the end of 2008.

The key points from the latest release are:

• Same-sex couples formed 282 civil partnerships (137 male and 145 female) in Wales in 2008, a small decrease from 294 civil partnerships formed in 2007.
• The total number of partnerships formed in Wales since the Act came into force in December 2005 is 1203. Cardiff has seen the highest number of civil partnerships since 2005, with a total of 256 civil partnerships (21.3 per cent of all civil partnerships formed in Wales since the Act came into force).
• More women than men continued to form same-sex civil partnerships in Wales in 2008 (51.4 per cent of all partnerships).  This is different from the UK trend where more men than women formed same-sex civil partnerships.
• Male civil partners were older on average than female civil partners in 2008 (the mean age for males was 41.8 and 39.5 for females). However, the average age at formation fell for both sexes, from 43.9 in 2007 to 41.8 in 2008 for males, and from 40.9 in 2007 to 39.5 in 2008 for females.
• 10 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women formed a civil partnership in Wales in 2008 had been in a previous marriage or civil partnership.
• There were 12 civil partnership dissolutions granted in Wales in 2008. Of these, 58.3 per cent of partners were aged under 35.

Note

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5 December 2005 in the UK, the first day couples could give notice of their intention to form a civil partnership. The Act enables same-sex couples aged 16 and over to obtain legal recognition of their relationship. The first day that couples could normally form a partnership was 19 December 2005 in Northern Ireland, 20 December 2005 in Scotland and 21 December 2005 in England and Wales.

Further information

Further information can be found on ONS’s website.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 3220
E-mail: stats.popcensus@wales.gsi.gov.uk