Forget the seven-year itch: opposite-sex marriages more likely to end after two decades
ONS data for England and Wales shows 26% of heterosexual divorces in 2025 followed 20 years or more of marriageMost couples are aware of the dreaded “seven-year itch”, when the honeymoon period wears off and real life starts to bite.Now…
By · October 18, 2026 · 1 min read
This article was originally published by
The Guardian World
and is republished here under license.
ONS data for England and Wales shows 26% of heterosexual divorces in 2025 followed 20 years or more of marriage
Most couples are aware of the dreaded “seven-year itch”, when the honeymoon period wears off and real life starts to bite.
Now official data has shown that couples in England and Wales are more likely to split after 20 years. According to Office for National Statistics figures, more than a quarter of all divorces between opposite-sex couples happened after 20 years or longer of marriage.
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