Why divorcees like the seaside

The list, compiled from statistics in the last census, is headed by Blackpool with a 13.13 percent chance of marriage failure.

The list, compiled from statistics in the last census, is headed by Blackpool with a 13.13 percent chance of marriage failure.

Published Mar 31, 2014

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London - Seaside towns are home to high numbers of divorcees because of the low cost of living in faded resorts, according to an official report.

Newly single men and women, who are often less well off after divorce, benefit from cheaper housing, while they can live more frugally on the coast, the Office for National Statistics said.

The connection between seaside towns and divorce was revealed last year in figures from the 2011 census. The data showed that all the top 12 districts with the highest proportion of divorced people are coastal towns, for example Blackpool, which has the highest concentration of divorcees on 13.1 percent, and Hastings, on 12.8 percent, the second-highest proportion.

Now the ONS has suggested on why this could be the case. “Higher levels of divorced population may relate to the affordability of housing and living costs in some of these areas resulting in divorced people with reduced economic assets living there,” the report concluded.

It added that previous figures have ‘highlighted some of these coastal areas as having high levels of deprivation’. Other explanations could be the fact that there are more older residents living in coastal towns, meaning there is likely to be a high proportion of divorcees.

And the newly single might decide to make a fresh start in life and move away to a different part of the country. Harry Benson of he Marriage Foundation think-tank said: “It is not surprising that after people go through the pain of divorce they are looking for a new life. They may well try to find that at the seaside.” The report also revealed that the number of single people is on the increase. - Daily Mail

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