They are said to be reluctant to forsake the pleasures of single life. But nothing could be further from the truth; British women are much more attached to marriage than their European counterparts, around 95.1 percent of British women have married at least once by age 49, the highest figure in the European Union. Only 91.2 percent of British men have walked up the aisle by the same age.
Meanwhile, the much discussed trend for delaying marriage until later in life--blamed on career women reluctant to have children--may actually reflect a return to the historical norm.
The average age of first marriage in Europe 200 years ago was 28, the same as British brides in 1998, according to a paper for the National Family and Parenting Institute, the independent thinktank set up by Jack Straw to advise on family issues.
"The public conversation about marriage has often been conducted in an atmosphere fraught with anxiety that can easily tip over into what commentators have described as a moral panic," the report, comparing European trends in marriage, adds.
"Changes in the marriage rate and in the way people form. relationships are part and parcel of a society where change is rapid and individuals feel helpless in the face of new developments; yet it is vital that these issues can be discussed without blame."
The paper does not include divorce rates. In 1997 Britain had the highest divorce rate in Europe, although by 1999 the rate had fallen to the level of the late 1980s.
Despite much political consternation about the family, the report suggests British attitudes are more socially conservative than those of many EU counterparts.
Nine out of 10 couples in Britain living with their children are married, compared to half in Finland. And while cohabiting is becoming the norm for European twentysomethings, "change has happened much more rapidly across the whole of the EU than in the UK", the report finds. Around a third of British under-thirties live with a partner, but it is closer to half in France and 40 per cent in Germany.
"This report is about let's bring a cool head to this debate," said Gill Keep, head of policy at the institute. "It is much easier to take the panic out of the discussion if you look at it in a comparative way; things that you think are destroying your own society are actually common trends and they may not be that destructive."
She said that despite anxiety over later marriages--the average age of first-time brides rose from 23 in the postwar period to 28 for women and 30 for men by 1999--historically this would have seemed normal.
Social historian Christina Hardyment said that in the nineteenth century couples would not marry until they could afford to support a household. "Women below the middle classes would always work in some capacity, mainly in domestic service, and it made sense to save; people think of kings and queens and nobility being married off at 12 but that was highly unusual," she said.
It is a well-known fact that British women are unwilling to abandon single life for a marriage.

A. True
B. False