Children in Britain are more likely to go through the upheaval of a family break-up than almost anywhere else in the world, according to a shocking new study.
Three in five boys and girls born to co-habiting couples will see their parents split up before they reach their teenage years.
In cases where the parents are married, the chances of stability are better, but still more than a third of marriages fall apart before the children enter their teens.
The figures were released by the Marriage Foundation, and its chairman, Sir Paul Coleridge, last night described them as “a loud wake-up call that there was a family breakdown epidemic in the UK”.
He added, “How many more surveys and reports do we need before the Government puts this problem at the very top of the social justice agenda?”
Based on studies conducted by leading academics and involving thousands of families in more than 20 countries, the figures showed that only a few very poor countries in South America and southern Africa had higher rates of family break-up than Britain.
Spain, Bulgaria, Italy and Georgia had the best records, according to the study.
Britain is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands.