Couples who live together but are not married are the fastest growing family type in the UK, new data reveals.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday show that the number of cohabiting couples has increased by 25.8 per cent in a decade, rising from 2.7 million in 2008 to 3.4 million in 2018.
Officials at the ONS believe that the change might be due to more couples choosing to live together before marrying.
The research comes after it was revealed that prime minister Boris Johnson would live on Downing Street with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds, making them the first unmarried couple to live at the prime ministerial address.
The couple plan to move into a flat above No 11 Downing Street.
The ONS data also revealed that the number of same-sex couple families has increased.
In 2015, there were 152,000 same-sex couple families living in the UK and in 2018, this rose to 232,000.
Meanwhile, there are also more people living alone than ever before, with this figure reaching 8 million in 2018, up by 300,000 from the previous year.
The data also found that millennials are struggling to leave the nest, with one in four people aged 20 to 34 living with their parents in 2018.
Sophie Sanders, ONS population statistics division statistician, said that the findings reflect the ways that people live have been changing over the past decade.
“While married couple families remain the most common, cohabiting couples are the fastest growing family type as people increasingly choose to live together before, or without, getting married,” she said.
“There are also more people living alone than ever before, an increasing number of same-sex couple families and more young adults living with their parents.”
