The number of gay men and women forming civil partnerships has dramatically outstripped official predictions, government statisticians said today. .
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that there have been 53,417 civil partnerships registered between December 2005, when the law was changed to permit them, and the end of last year.
That means 106,834 civil partners — compared with an official estimate made in 2004 which predicted that only 11,000 to 22,000 gay people would have entered civil partnerships by the end of 2010.
The statisticians say that this means the number of civil partners is therefore “much higher” than anticipated. Today’s disclosure, which is likely to increase pressure on the Government to press ahead with the introduction of full gay marriage rights, came as statisticians also revealed a 6.4 per cent increase in civil partnerships in England and Wales last year with 6,795 homosexual couples forming a legal union.
The number of partnerships being dissolved was 672, a 28.7 per cent rise on the previous year, although that partly reflects the higher number of gay couples in civil partnerships.
Westminster was the local authority carrying out the most civil partnerships last year, with 219 male and 56 female ceremonies, followed by Brighton and Hove.
London accounted for a quarter of all civil partnerships last year with 1,731 formed in the capital.
