Eastbourne is a hotspot for divorce, figures reveal

It comes in at eighth in a league table of marital break-ups, with 11.46 per cent per year.

Other South Coast towns are also in the top 10 - Hastings is in second place (13.13 per cent) and Worthing in 10th (11.23 per cent). The table is topped by Blackpool (13.13 per cent).

In the UK, 42 per cent of marriages now end in divorce. There were 262,240 marriages in 2012, an increase of 5.3 per cent on 2011. That’s one marriage every two minutes; 66 per cent are first marriages for both partners, 15 per cent are remarriages for both partners and 19 per cent remarriage for one partner.

There were 118,140 divorces in the UK in 2012, an increase of 0.5 per cent on the previous year, and 71 per cent of these were for first marriages. Nine per cent were for couples who had both been divorced before.

The figures released by family law solicitors Cordell and Cordell equate to 10.8 divorces per 1,000 of the married population. The average length of a marriage in the UK is 32 years.

Almost half of divorces occur in the first 10 years of marriage - with the biggest risk occuring between the fourth and eighth wedding anniversaries.

The average age at which people get married is 27 and the average age for divorce is 45 for men and 42 for women.

The biggest UK divorce settlement was £337 million. There are 13 divorces per hour and the shortest marriage was four days.

Top reasons for divorce, in descending order, are adultery, abuse, incompatibility, boredom, children, expectations, mental health, money, addiction and lack of communication. One in seven divorces in 2012 were granted on the grounds of adultery.

The highest number of marriages per person in the UK is eight, and 48 per cent of divorced couples have at least one child under the age of 16 living with the family.

There are two million lone parents with dependant children in the UK - 91 per cent mothers, and nine per cent fathers.

The cost of family breakdown is £47 billion each year. Divorce is most commonly initiated by women (65 per cent).

The average length of time it takes to finalise a divorce is 17 months and 26 days. Divorce decrees are granted to 65 per cent of women and 35 per cent of men.

See the statistics at http://cordellcordell.co.uk/2016/divorce_in_the_uk_stats_and_facts/

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage at www.eastbourneherald.co.uk

2 Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/eastbourne.herald

3 Follow us on Twitter @Eastbournenews

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Eastbourne Herald - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.