Last year 6,795 couples formalised their relationships in civil partnership ceremonies in the UK, an increase of 6.4% since 2010, according to official figures. The number of dissolutions rose by more than a quarter, but statisticians said this simply reflected the increasing number of people in civil partnerships.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, will fuel debate about David Cameron’s plans to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Since 2005, gay and lesbian couples have been able officially to register their relationships as civil partnerships, giving them effectively the same legal rights as married couples, but they cannot call themselves "married".
The Coalition has changed the law to enable churches and other religious groups to host civil partnership ceremonies for the first time.
The Prime Minister and his Liberal Democrat deputy, Nick Clegg, want to go further and allow same-sex couples to marry.
Their plan, which is currently undergoing a public consultation, has provoked fierce criticism from religious leaders, including the Anglican Archbishop of York, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.
Scores of back-bench Conservative MPs and a number of government ministers also oppose the planned new gay marriage law, arguing that it is a “distraction” from the Coalition’s core task of reviving the economy.
The ONS figures showed that the number of people forming civil partnerships had far exceeded original expectations.
In 2004, before the reform was introduced, the then Labour government estimated that between 11,000 and 22,000 people would be likely to take-up civil partnerships in Great Britain by 2010.
However, by the end of last year, the total had reached 106,834, which the ONS noted was “much higher” than officials had originally forecast.
The figures also showed that lesbian couples were more likely than gay couples to dissolve their partnerships.
By the end of 2011, 2.2 per cent of gay civil partnerships in the UK had ended in dissolution, compared to 4.6 per cent of lesbian partnerships.
Overall, there were 672 dissolutions in 2011, up from 522 in 2010. However, as the number of people entering civil partnerships continues to rise, the number of couples separating is also expected to increase.
Male couples on average formed civil partnerships at the age of just over 40, while lesbian women were typically 38 years old.
There were significant decreases in the numbers of same-sex couples forming civil partnerships in Wales and Northern Ireland. Stonewall, the gay rights organisation, suggested this could indicate that people were waiting for the law to change to allow them to marry instead.
Under the government's plans, only civil marriage would be changed to allow same sex couples to wed. Religious marriage would be unaffected.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government believes society is stronger when couples commit to each other, which is why it is so encouraging to see more same-sex couples entering civil partnerships. We now want to make it possible for all couples, regardless of their gender, to get married in a civil ceremony. Under our proposals couples who are already in a civil partnership will be able to convert it into a marriage if they wish to. We will announce the results of our consultation by the end of the year.”
Their plan, which is currently undergoing a public consultation, has provoked fierce criticism from religious leaders, including the Anglican Archbishop of York, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.
Scores of back-bench Conservative MPs and a number of government ministers also oppose the planned new gay marriage law, arguing that it is a “distraction” from the Coalition’s core task of reviving the economy.
The ONS figures showed that the number of people forming civil partnerships had far exceeded original expectations.
In 2004, before the reform was introduced, the then Labour government estimated that between 11,000 and 22,000 people would be likely to take-up civil partnerships in Great Britain by 2010.
However, by the end of last year, the total had reached 106,834, which the ONS noted was “much higher” than officials had originally forecast.
The figures also showed that lesbian couples were more likely than gay couples to dissolve their partnerships.
By the end of 2011, 2.2 per cent of gay civil partnerships in the UK had ended in dissolution, compared to 4.6 per cent of lesbian partnerships.
Overall, there were 672 dissolutions in 2011, up from 522 in 2010. However, as the number of people entering civil partnerships continues to rise, the number of couples separating is also expected to increase.
Male couples on average formed civil partnerships at the age of just over 40, while lesbian women were typically 38 years old.
There were significant decreases in the numbers of same-sex couples forming civil partnerships in Wales and Northern Ireland. Stonewall, the gay rights organisation, suggested this could indicate that people were waiting for the law to change to allow them to marry instead.
Under the government's plans, only civil marriage would be changed to allow same sex couples to wed. Religious marriage would be unaffected.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government believes society is stronger when couples commit to each other, which is why it is so encouraging to see more same-sex couples entering civil partnerships. We now want to make it possible for all couples, regardless of their gender, to get married in a civil ceremony. Under our proposals couples who are already in a civil partnership will be able to convert it into a marriage if they wish to. We will announce the results of our consultation by the end of the year.”