"Figure 4: Civil marriage ceremonies have outnumbered religious ceremonies each year since 1992 ","" "Percentage of civil and religious ceremonies, England and Wales, 1968 to 2018 ","" "","" "Notes","1. Figures for 2014 to 2018 include opposite-sex and same-sex marriages. 2. Marriages of same-sex couples have been possible in England and Wales from 29 March 2014. " "Unit","% of marriages " "","" "Year","Civil marriages","Religious marriages" "1968","35.4","64.6" "1969","36.1","63.9" "1970","39.5","60.5" "1971","41.3","58.7" "1972","45.5","54.5" "1973","46.1","53.9" "1974","46.5","53.5" "1975","47.8","52.2" "1976","50.0","50.0" "1977","50.6","49.4" "1978","50.6","49.4" "1979","50.8","49.2" "1980","49.6","50.4" "1981","49.0","51.0" "1982","48.2","51.8" "1983","48.6","51.4" "1984","48.8","51.2" "1985","48.8","51.2" "1986","48.4","51.6" "1987","47.8","52.2" "1988","48.5","51.5" "1989","48.1","51.9" "1990","47.4","52.6" "1991","49.3","50.7" "1992","50.4","49.6" "1993","51.1","48.9" "1994","52.3","47.7" "1995","54.9","45.1" "1996","58.8","41.2" "1997","60.7","39.3" "1998","61.0","39.0" "1999","61.7","38.3" "2000","63.7","36.3" "2001","64.3","35.7" "2002","66.2","33.8" "2003","67.8","32.2" "2004","67.7","32.3" "2005","65.4","34.6" "2006","66.1","33.9" "2007","66.4","33.6" "2008","66.7","33.3" "2009","67.1","32.9" "2010","68.0","32.0" "2011","70.1","29.9" "2012","69.9","30.1" "2013","71.5","28.5" "2014","73.0","27.0" "2015","74.5","25.5" "2016","76.0","24.0" "2017","77.6","22.4" "2018","79.5","20.5"