Divorce rates for the over 60s have risen by four per cent in the last two years - but have fallen overall by 11 per cent.
The latest figures, for 2009, show more than 11,500 over-60s were granted a divorce, as baby boomers decide to ''start again''. It is believed that the rise is due to a number of couples becoming ''disillusioned'' with each other after their children grow up and leave home.
TV presenter and journalist Esther Rantzen said she had been contacted by silver divorcees who suffered terrible loneliness after their split. She said: "In some cases, divorce over 60 is by people who have stayed together for the sake for their children and when they leave and realise they are not happy and decide to split and get on with independent living.
"In these cases it’s generally OK.
"But there are also cases when one partner desperately wanted to stay married end up unexpectedly on their own at a very vulnerable time in their lives.
"I’ve had letters from older divorcees who were bewildered by what had suddenly happened and had experienced terrible loneliness.
"They feel they have been left high and dry in circumstances they had never anticipated and are very unhappy. It is a real tragedy."
The figures were released following a parliamentary question. They showed that in 2007, 11,040 people aged over 60 divorced. By 2009, this had risen to 11,507. More men than women fitted into this age group - although this is due to the fact that most husbands are older than their wives.
For men over 60, the divorce rate rose by three per cent between 2007 and 2009 but for women it increased by six per cent.
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Campaigns & Issues
Councils’ care home policy may cost families £millions a year, says charity
Thousands of families in England may be paying councils millions of pounds a year for care home places that should be free, according to a report by older people’s charity Independent Age.
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News
Inflation falls for all age groups, although elderly still hit hardest
- The latest figures from the Alliance Trust Economic Research Centre show that all households experienced a decline in their inflation rates in April
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- The over 75 year old households face an inflation rate of 3.6% and although this is the lowest level since October 2010, it is still higher than the official rate of inflation
- The 30-49 year olds, once again, have the lowest rate of inflation at 3.0%. This is the lowest level recorded for this age group since November 2009
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Competitions & Fun
Win a pair of tickets to South Pacific
This breathtaking and lavish Lincoln Center Theatre production reinvented Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical.
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Reader Offers
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Health & Wellbeing
Patients to benefit from better advice on pain control
New guidance for doctors and other prescribers on the use of strong painkillers for patients with chronic or incurable disease has been welcomed by researchers at the University of Leeds.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is today (23 May) launching a new clinical guideline on the safe use of opioids – a family of drugs derived from the opium poppy that have been identified by the World Health Organization as essential in the treatment of severe pain. The new NICE guideline should help ensure that when patients receiving palliative care for chronic or incurable illnesses start treatment with strong opiods, the drugs are prescribed safely and consistently..
Property & Finance
Older people need specialist housing
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Lifestyle
Learn how the internet can make life easier for you
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Travel & Leisure
New sat-nav for older people
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