The Government Actuary's Department (GAD) used to periodically produce marital status projections for England & Wales. On 31 January 2006, responsibility for the production of marital status projections for England & Wales transferred to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
These projections cover both legal marital status and (opposite-sex co-residential) cohabitation. One of the main uses of these projections is as one of the inputs to the regular projections of the number and type of households in England, now produced by Communities and Local Government (CLG). Marital status projections are also used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to cost various aspects of the future social security programme.
Any enquiries about these projections should be directed to ONS. Click the link for contact details.
The historic (2003-based) marital status projections data published by GAD in March 2005 are still available on this website. They are consistent with the interim 2003-based national population projections (by age and sex) published by GAD on 30 September 2004. The 2003-based marital status projections for England & Wales can be accessed by using the options provided below.