More than half of people in Brighton and Hove were single as the number of marriage and civil partnerships dropped across the country in the past decade, census figures show.

The area follows trends across England and Wales, where the rate of single people has increased since the last census in 2011.

The number of people considered single – never having been in a civil partnership or marriage – in Brighton and Hove when the census took place last year was 122,750, up from 114,826 in 2011.

Of those aged 16 and older in Brighton and Hove, 52.2 per cent were single – an increase on 50.1 per cent in 2011.

The picture was similar across England and Wales last year, where 37.9 per cent of people 16 and older were single, up from 34.6 per cent in 2011.

And 32.8 per cent of people in Brighton and Hove were married or in a civil partnership last year – down slightly from ten years prior.

Data from the census shows 72,993 people were in opposite sex marriages last year, slightly up from 72,852 in 2011.

An additional 2,364 were in same sex marriages in Brighton and Hove last year – they were illegal in 2011.

The figures also show 1,503 people were in same sex civil partnerships last year and 381 were in opposite sex civil partnerships. There were 2,346 people in civil partnerships ten years prior. They were only allowed for same sex couples at the time.

There were 20,379 divorced people and 247 people with a dissolved civil partnership in Brighton and Hove last year, making up 8.8 per cent of people aged 16 and over.

John Wroth-Smith, Census deputy director, said: "When looking a bit deeper, we can see that the proportion of people in a marriage or civil partnership has declined, which follows the long-term trend of declining marriages.

"Conversely, the number of people who were never married or in a civil partnership has increased by almost three million.”

Nationally, 21.7 million people were married or in a civil partnership – making up 45 per cent of those aged 16 and older. And 9.1 per cent of the population were divorced or no longer in a civil partnership, up slightly from nine per cent a decade prior.