I know there are lots of issues at work here - perhaps people with more stable relationships will tend to marry earlier and not cohabit - there are exceptions to every statistic, but this makes for sobering reading!
I'd be interested to know what people think!
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Figures show that in 1992, 70 per cent of couples who had children after they were married stayed together until their child's 16th birthday.
This increased to 75 per cent in 2006, showing that marriage has become a more stable family background for youngsters.
However, only 36 per cent of cohabiting parents stayed together until their son or daughter reached 16 in 1992. By 2006, just 7 per cent of couples who were unmarried when their child was born were still cohabiting by their 16th birthday.
This figure excludes those couples who were just living together when their child was born and later got married.
Around three in five couples who stop cohabiting decide to marry. Of these just 17 per cent are still together by the time their child is 16, the report says.
The study, Cohabitation in the 21st Century, from Christian thinktank the Jubilee Centre
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