Thaindian News

London, Sep 20 (IANS) British family life appears to have undergone a major change as for the first time the number of unmarried couples with children has equalled those who tie the knot.

People are now just as likely to live together and have a baby as they are to get married.

Last year, 38 percent of the cohabiting couples were parents, exactly the same ratio as married couples with children, Daily Mail reported.

It shows fewer Britons having faith in the traditional view that children should be brought up in a home with married parents, despite evidence clearly showing that many more married couples stay together when compared to unmarried ones.

According to experts at Leeds University, working for Co-operative Legal Services, the number of married couples with children at home has crashed by 320,000 in the last decade.

The report, using data from the Office for National Statistics, also reflects that unmarried couples in the same situation went up by 290,000 in the same period — up a third. The number of lone parent families also risen more than 200,000 in a decade.

Christina Blacklaws, director of Family Law at The Co-operative Legal Services, said: “One of the important aspects of this report is that it shows how socially acceptable it is as a way of forming a family.

“That was always a taboo in days gone by you might live together, or ‘live in sin’ as a precursor to marriage but what the research now shows is that for the majority of people it is fine if people chose together and have children.”