In the last ten years the divorce rate in the United Kingdom, has almost doubled. Statistics show that in 1961, there were 27,224 divorce cases in Great Britain and by 1969 it had more than doubled to 55,556. By the early seventies, the United Kingdom registered a staggering 1,24,991 cases. This could partly be attributed to the Divorce Reform Act, which came into effect in 1971. That was then, the beginning of the 21st century has seen divorce becoming a norm rather than an exception.

In the instance that there has been a slight drop in divorce rates year on year, the reason is mainly because there is a drop in number of marriages. Increasingly, women are choosing careers over marriage, single parenthood is rampant and the average age of people getting married is on the rise. Given then that marriage is not hastily entered into, divorce on the other hand doesn't seem to have any speed breakers!

In fact, in the UK, 1 in 5 men and women who got divorced had a previous divorce behind them. This figure is up from 1 in 10 ten years ago. In the UK and world over, there are fewer and fewer "fault divorces", i.e. neither the man nor the woman is blamed, instead, divorce occurs due to changing needs, incompatibility or divergent interests.

Increasingly people the world over seem to believe that tomorrow will never come and instant gratification seems to be the current mantra. Though the average age of divorce in the UK has risen from 39.6 to 43.1 years for men (in the last ten years) and 37.0 to 40.6 for women, as mentioned earlier this is more as a result of rise in age at marriage. Men and women seem not to want to spend even a moment more than necessary in an "inconvenient" situation. There always seems (apparently) that there is something (or someone) bigger, better and greater out there. Running to catch that errant dream, reality is not given too much credence. We don't need statistics to tell us that marriage today, is not considered a "holy" union and "till death do us part" is what fairy tales are made up of. Divorce today is just a means and definitely not the end.

When one studies divorce related statistics in the UK, it can be alarming. One can be forgiven for being cynical and imagine that a happy marriage is the thing of the past. What then is the solution one might ask. Though Marriage counselling has been around in the UK for a considerable time, it is still a good option to prevent a divorce. Despite 40% of marriages in the UK ending in divorce, when marriage counselling has been sought seriously it has proved fairly effective. Of course it is not an overnight solution but requires hard work and an honest attempt to make this work. It helps a couple work through perceived issues and address the real ones.

A temporary separation also works as a viable option to give a couple space to understand the consequences of an impending divorce. A separation also affords healing time and a couple could ?date? each other to bring back the romance in the relationship.

While extreme cases where abuse, cheating etc is involved one might say that divorce does offer a way out to the aggrieved party. However, in cases where boredom and ennui have set in, where misunderstandings have been blown out of proportion, where career seemingly take priority, one does imagine that has to be an alternative to divorce.

Of course, one sure way of preventing a divorce is to avoid ?marrying in haste and repenting at leisure?. Living together offers a couple a chance to understand what they can expect from a life together and while there is no guarantee being careful before tying the knot does help allay false notions.

Life however, is bound to come a full circle and whether in the UK or elsewhere, this too shall pass and hopefully a good old fashioned marriage will be back in fashion!