- Divorces after 20 years of marriage accounted for 26 per cent of opposite-sex cases in England and Wales last year.
- The average marriage ending in divorce lasted 13 years, the longest since records began in 1963.
- Lawyers say the cost of running two households can discourage couples from separating.
The seven-year itch may be fading as a defining feature of marriage breakdown, with official figures showing that couples in England and Wales are now more likely to divorce after 20 years together than at any other point in their marriage.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that 26 per cent of the 102,879 opposite-sex divorces recorded in England and Wales last year involved couples who had been married for at least 20 years.
That was ahead of the 23 per cent of divorces among couples married for between five and nine years, the period traditionally associated with the seven-year itch.
But while some couples are waiting until later in life to end their marriages, financial pressures may be keeping others together for longer than they would like.
Why are more couples divorcing after 20 years?
Family lawyers and relationship experts point to several possible reasons for the shift, including couples staying together until their children have grown up and the changing expectations of marriage later in life.
Jeremy Todd, head of family support charity Coram Family Lives, said some parents remain together until their children have left home, when the transition to an empty nest can expose problems that had been put aside for years.
For others, the decision to separate may come after decades of accumulated difficulties rather than a single event.
The trend is also reflected in the growing number of couples ending marriages later in life. Dr Chivonna Childs, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, has said that older couples may reassess their relationships as their priorities change and they seek greater personal fulfilment.
She said: “It’s not the 18th, 19th or even the 20th century anymore, and staying in a marriage that’s unfulfilling is no longer necessary.”
Childs has also pointed to greater financial independence among women and increased attention to mental health as factors that can make leaving an unhappy marriage more feasible.
High-profile separations after lengthy marriages have brought the trend into public view. TV presenters Tess Daly and Vernon Kay announced the end of their 22-year marriage in May, while actor Hugh Bonneville and his wife Lulu Williams separated after 25 years.
Is the cost of living delaying divorce?
The cost of establishing and maintaining two separate households can make separation difficult, particularly when couples need to divide property, savings and pensions.
Rebecca Aston-Jones, a senior associate at divorce law firm Clarke Willmott, said financial pressure was discouraging some people from pursuing a divorce.
“One of the main factors discouraging people from pursuing a divorce is the significant financial pressure that comes with establishing and maintaining two separate households,” she said.
Lisa Pepper, a divorce lawyer at Osbornes Law, has also said that staying together for the sake of children remains a factor in cases involving long marriages.
The ONS figures point to a longer-term change in the timing of divorce. The average opposite-sex marriage ending in divorce lasted 13 years in 2025, up from 10.7 years in 2000 and the highest level since records began in 1963.
The rise does not mean that every long marriage is more likely to end than a shorter one. It shows that, among marriages that ended in divorce last year, the largest share had lasted at least 20 years.
For some couples, the decision to separate may come once children have left home or finances allow them to live independently. For others, the cost of doing so may mean the marriage continues, even when the relationship has run its course.
