Marital and civil partnership status 2011

Dataset population: Persons

Marital and civil partnership status

Marital and civil partnership status classifies an individual according to their legal marital or registered same-sex civil partnership status as at census day, 27 March 2011.

This topic is the equivalent of the 2001 Census topic 'Marital status', but has undergone significant revision to take account of the Civil Partnership Act which came into force on 5 December 2005.

Marital and civil partnership states include:

• Married/in a registered same-sex civil partnership
• Separated (but still legally married/in a registered same-sex civil partnership)
• Divorced/formerly in a registered same-sex civil partnership
• Widowed/surviving same-sex civil partner

Although the term 'single' is widely used to cover people in a number of states such as divorced or separated, it is not a legally recognised status and was not an option on the census questionnaire. In census results the term 'single' is used to refer only to someone who has never been married or in a registered same-sex civil partnership, which were options on the census questionnaire.