Taking your wedding vows may not be a lifetime commitment in one Wirral town, according to new research.

Analysis has been undertaken by Beecham Peacock Solicitors, studying the public's internet search behaviour around divorce and one of our own towns ended up coming out on top.

To gain an accurate insight into divorce pre-lockdown and beyond, the legal experts analysed the search volume for ‘divorce’ across the UK from September 1, 2019 to September, 1 2020. 

Wirral Globe:

This uncovered the country’s divorce hotpots where residents are looking for ways to end their marriages.

They also analysed searches for divorce-related terms during lockdown, uncovering the top cities seeking divorces and the surprising fall of divorce Google searches.

Here’s a brief overview of the state of divorce in the UK:

  • Birkenhead is the UK’s divorce hotspot (2019-2020)
  • Residents in Glasgow have been searching for ‘divorce’ the most in lockdown (March–July2020)
  • Searches for divorced-related terms online fell dramatically during lockdown (March–July2020)
  • Searches for ‘how to file for a divorce UK’ fell by 55.17% during lockdown
  • Searches for ‘how to get a divorce’ fell 18.5% during lockdown
  • Divorcing couples were married for an average of 12.5 years
  • 42% of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce
  • 60% of opposite-sex marriages end before the 20th wedding anniversary
  • The shortest UK marriage is 90 minutes in 2004
  • The most common ground fordivorce is unreasonable behaviour for same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
  • 62% of divorces between opposite-sex couples are initiated by the wife
  • The UK’s Divorce Hotspots

Wirral Globe:

Research shows that the UK divorce hotspots for divorce are: 

  1. Birkenhead
  2. Birmingham
  3. Bradford
  4. Glasgow
  5. Manchester
  6. Ilford
  7. Belfast
  8. Leeds & London
  9. Leicester, Plymouth, Hull & Liverpool
  10. Bristol & Portsmouth

Although Birkenhead tops the table in the Uk, overall divorce searches are down.

What’s Causing the Decline in Divorce Searches?

It may be that with a lockdown in place many people felt uncomfortable filing for divorce while things were so uncertain, and they were potentially still living with their ex. This would explain the reduction in searched for divorce-related terms.

Divorce rates declined during the last recession. From 2006 to 2007 the number of divorces decreased by 3.0339% and from 2007-2008 a 5.01284% decrease in the number of divorces. So, the steady decline we’re seeing in search volume for divorce-related queries in 2020 mirrors that somewhat.

It’s also worth considering that the current situation itself presents a “make or break” style situation so it may also have caused couples to evaluate their issues and work through them without the need for divorce.

Then once lockdown eased, we can see some terms like ‘divorce application’ start to return to its usual position in search volume. 

This could be an indication of things to come as we return to some sense of normality.

Read the full report findings, click here.