Many of us now live in non-traditional, or “non-nuclear” families. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica “A nuclear family, elementary family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of two parents and their children (one or more).”
It is the classic family structure which is still common, but according to every statistical analysis, a decreasing number of families meet this criteria.
We are seeing far more one-parent families, “blended” or “stepfamilies” where one partner is not the biological parent of the children, civil partnerships and three parents living under the same roof.
According to data coming from the Office for National Statistics, the number of marriage rate has halved in the UK since the 1970’s. In 2017, the married or civil partner couple family remains the most common, but the cohabiting couple family growing the fastest (doubling from 1996). In fact, about half the population of the UK are either single, divorced, widowed or in a civil partnership.
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