This dataset provides statistics on marriages of same-sex couples that took place in England and Wales, broken down by sex, year of occurrence, age of the younger and older partner and their previous legal partnership status.

The https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/previousReleases[latest Marriage Statistics publication] is available on the Office for National Statistics website.

• Marriage statistics are derived from information recorded when marriages are registered as part of civil registration, a legal requirement.
• Figures represent civil and religious marriages that take place in England and Wales only.
• Marriages to residents of England and Wales that took place outside of England and Wales are not included.
• Marriages of same sex couples first took place on 29 March 2014 therefore figures for 2014 represent a part-year only.
• Same-sex couples in a civil partnership have been able to convert their existing civil partnership into a marriage, if they so desired, from 10 December 2014; these conversions are not included within this dataset.

The https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/methodologies/marriagesinenglandandwalesqmi[Marriage Quality and Methodology Information] document contains important information on:

• the strengths and limitations of the data
• the quality of the output including the accuracy of the data and how it compares with related data
• uses and users
• how the output was created

Further information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to marriages can be found in the https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/methodologies/userguidetomarriagestatistics[User Guide to Marriage Statistics]

For more information on marriage statistics, please contact the Office for National Statistics: email: pop.info@ons.gov.uk telephone: +44(0)1329 444661

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