Couples who marry at a young age 'are most likely to divorce'

Couples who marry in their twenties are most likely to divorce, according to official figures.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 10.5 people out of every 1,000 married Britons divorced last year, down from 11.2 people in 2008, reports the Daily Mail.

But among 25- to 29-year-olds, the rate is more than twice as high, at 21.7 men and 25.1 women out of 1,000 in the age range getting divorced in 2009.

Experts have blamed an emerging concept of the 'starter marriage', which sees young couples view splitting after only five years and before they have children as acceptable.

"People obviously don't see divorce as the cataclysmic event that they might have in the past," Jenny North, head of policy at Relate, told the Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile the official figures also showed that number of marriages ending in divorce has fallen to its lowest annual level for 35 years.

There were 113,949 divorces, a drop of 6.4% in 12 months and the lowest since the mid-1970s.

Although the figures can be partly accounted for by the fact that fewer couples are choosing to marry, they suggest that those who do are increasingly likely to stay together.

Experts have claimed that the economic downturn has prevented some warring couples from divorcing because they cannot afford to separate.