Scottish couples married in humanist ceremonies have a higher chance of avoiding divorce than those who get married in a Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic or civil ceremony, according to recent figures.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Services (SCTS) released statistics on divorce rates in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request. In the 2017-18 financial year, the SCTS data analysed both the duration of marriages and marriage types, and discovered:
- Church of Scotland marriages are two times more likely to end in divorce than those married in humanist weddings
- Couples married in Roman Catholic weddings are three times more likely to seek a divorce than couples in humanist marriages
- Civil marriages are nearly four times more likely to end in divorce than those married in humanist ceremonies.
The SCTS data covered divorces which occurred 0-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 years after the wedding. For marriages that lasted five years or less, humanist weddings had the lowest divorce rate of all marriage types; with only 1.7 in every 1,000 ending in divorce. This was compared to five in every 1,000 for Roman Catholic weddings, 5.8 in every 1,000 for Church of Scotland weddings, and 7.3 in every 1,000 civil ceremonies.
Similar findings were also found for those marriages that came to an end 5-10 years after the wedding ceremony. While only 4.6 in every 1,000 humanist marriages ended in divorce, Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic and civil ceremonies were much higher (6.8, 9, and 12.4 respectively).
In fact, humanist weddings consistently had the lowest divorce rate in 2017-18, averaging at 2.5 in every 1,000 marriages. On the other hand, non-humanist weddings (Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic, civil ceremonies and other religious weddings) had a combined divorce rate of 8.4 in every 1,000.
What is a humanist wedding?
Humanist weddings are non-religious ceremonies that allow couples to get married in a location of their choosing and in a way that is entirely decided by them. Since 2005, humanist weddings have been legalised in Scotland and have become more popular than both the Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic ceremonies combined. According to recent data, there were 5,702 humanist ceremonies conducted in Scotland in 2017-18 compared to 3,166 Church of Scotland weddings and 1,182 Roman Catholic ceremonies.
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