How often have you heard politicians bleating about “hard-working middle-class families?” Well, the UK census results released last week confirm that ‘families’ are not what they used to be.

Married-couple households are now in a significant minority at 35%, (down from 47% in 2010 and 51% in 2001) while the number of single adults heading up the family has risen by six million.

The traditional family unit is increasingly an anachronism, especially in cities. Another survey, also released last week, cites the primary reason being the increasing social acceptance of not being married, and of having multiple partners.

Clearly this has been happening for more than the past generation, but in reality getting a divorce has become a simple formality, even while marriage rates have fallen drastically. The survey cites the main reason for this as the perceived penalties on male money-earners if the motivation for divorce is not mutual.

To general surprise, it seems that despite these dramatic changes, moral values have risen sharply. Around 59% of heads of families feel that they live a more moral and honest life today, than they did in 2010.

Teenage children too seem to have come to terms with the new arrangements, showing a significant improvement in the ‘Respect for Parents Index’ of 40% over the 2001 numbers.