Married couples are less likely to split up than those who live in a cohabiting relationship, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that marriage was more stable than cohabitation even when outside factors that might influence the fate of the relationship were considered.
The official survey of hundreds of thousands of families found that four-fifths of spouses who were married in 1991 were still together a decade later, compared with three-fifths of cohabiting couples.
The findings of the ONS are likely to reignite the political debate over whether married couples should be given tax breaks.
The Conservatives have pledged to recognise marriage in the tax system, ensuring that spouses would not lose out if one wanted to stay at home to raise their children, on the grounds that stable families are good for society.
But Labour ministers, who abolished tax breaks for married couples, say that families now come in ‘all shapes and sizes’ and so it would be wrong to disadvantage single parents or widows.
A recent study conducted in the US and published on 2 March 2010 also shows that couples who live together before marriage without any commitment like engagement, hurt their chances of a having a long lasting marriage.
(Click here to read the study in full)
Previous US studies have found that couples who lived together before marriage were more likely to divorce.
In 2008, another UK study, conducted after concerns about the number of children born outside wedlock were raised, reported that live-in relationships tend to be much shorter than marriages.
The report, based on an analysis of 10,000 households over 18 years, says there are ‘long-term negative consequences’ for those who grow up with either just a mother or a father.
Children in one-parent families do worse at school, are less likely to get good jobs and suffer more health problems, it claims.
The research contradicted repeated claims by Labour ministers that there is no ideal household for children to grow up in.
John Ermisch, a Professor of Economics at the University of Essex who analysed the data, said:
‘The rise in births outside marriage is a real cause for concern. It is primarily attributable to the increase in people’s tendency to cohabit in their first partnership and to have children within these unions.
‘The instability of these unions means, however, than more British children will spend significant parts of their childhood in families with only one parent – and this appears to have long-term negative consequences,’ he added.
On 18 May 2008, Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader and a staunch feminist, said marriage has ‘little relevance in public policy’ and that the Government should respect parents' lifestyle choices. She has been accused of contributing to family breakdown by drawing up policies that benefited unmarried couples.
Labour Party has also been accused of abandoning marriage by drastically slashing funding which supports married couples.