Forum Topic

Divorce amongst pensioners are the highest

It is a very worrying trend that I have noticed. I can't quote statistics but have seen it happen to all my friends and their friends. Once the children have fled the nest and couples have retired. Instead of sitting back and relaxing and enjoying their old age together, many pensioners have filed for divorce and prefer to live alone.Very sad state of affairs. I wonder why this is the case?Is this something happening all over the western world or just Britain?

Rhys Smith ● 4392d8 Comments

I will stick with the old man (34 years so far) and content myself with the eye candy in The Musketeers.

Susan Kelly ● 4390d

And the divorced mature ladies sometimes look for toyboys too Rhys. Its a strange world these days.

Gerry Tan ● 4390d

After a lifetime of living together, all they want to do is find new young love. Maybe it is because they want to feel young and beautiful again so look for a toyboy.

Rhys Smith ● 4390d

People aren't getting married in the same numbers, so it doesn't surprise me that divorce amongst the young is declining. One in three couples are living together when they rather not be because of housing costs. Children leaving home is the perfect opportunity to move on and put the misery of a bad marriage behind you.

Ben Owen ● 4391d

Rhys's headline is perhaps a bit misleading. The number of divorces among pensioners is the highest it's ever been but still quite low compared to younger people. The divorce rate is dropping among younger people, though, so we may yet catch them up.

Susan Kelly ● 4391d

There has definitely been an upswing in the numbers of older couples divorcing, Gerry. It's been mentioned several times in the news over the last couple of years.

Susan Kelly ● 4391d

Rhys, I beg to differ and rather agree with Susan's thoughts and sentiments about the worrying trend in divorce. Where do you get these statistics?

Gerry Tan ● 4392d

The statistics do bear this out, with divorce much more common among couples with 30+ years under their belts.I think it applies only to marriages that have been unhappy for years. I had a friend who left his wife after the children went off to university, saying that he realised, sitting down at the dinner table with just the two of them, that they had nothing to say to each other.Then there's retirement, which is lasting longer than ever, when you're essentially stuck with each other all day. If you aren't still real friends, then this must soon become unbearable.

Susan Kelly ● 4392d