9 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

In 2009, the United Kingdom saw divorce drop to 10.5%. This is an important number, in fact. Since 2005, when civil partnerships were offered in the UK, 50,000 same-sex couples have taken the plunge. In 2010, 6,385 civil partnerships were registered in the UK, which was a slight increase over 2009. What is more, in 2010, 509 civil partnerships were dissolved, which was a 44% jump from the year before when 353 partnerships ended.

To give you some idea, in 2010, 8% of civil partnerships dissolved, and in 2009, that figure was around 6%. It was noted by the Office for National Statistics in the UK that lesbian couples dissolved their partnerships at a higher rate than gay male partnerships ended- about 3.3% and 1.6% respectively.

It is still interesting to note that fewer lesbian and gay couples divorced than straight couples, though that number appears to slowly be creeping up to parity. Additionally, statistics have shown that women are more apt to engage in getting married than men are, so there are more lesbian partnerships being forged than there are gay male partnerships.

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