Young men are now 26 times more likely to live with their mother than their wife by the time they turn 25, new research suggests.
In what has been described as a 'relationship recession', a new paper revealed there are now millions fewer married people under 30 than in 1976, despite there being more young people.
The analysis by think-tank The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found that the marriage rate for men in their early twenties is down by 97 per cent compared to 50 years ago.
That number is also down 90 per cent for men and women who are married by the age of 30.
This is equivalent to around 3.7 million fewer married people under 30. The number of marriages has fallen from 4.5 million in 1976 to approximately 790,000 today.
Young men were far more likely to be living at home with their parents than women of the same age.
The CSJ blamed the new challenges that face young people in the modern world that have made it harder to meet people and harder to move in with them.
It suggested that many youths are daunted by the world they are living in and find it increasingly difficult to form stable, happy relationships.
Young men are now 26 times more likely to live with their mother than their wife by the time they turn 25 (stock image)
As house prices remain expensive compared to average earnings and as rents remain stubbornly high, more young people are staying at home instead, the paper found.
The number of people aged 20 to 34 staying at their parents' home has risen from 20 per cent in 2008 to nearly 30 per cent in 2025.
But fewer than one quarter of young women still live at home (22.3 per cent), compared to over one-third of young men (34.9 per cent).
The paper added that the increase in levels of anxiety for people under 30 was making it hard for people to meet and instigate a relationship.
The paper said: 'This is not meant as fearmongering nor moralising. It is a sober reflection of the state of the current relationship landscape for young adults.
'We do nobody any favours by sticking our head in the sand and pretending all is well; this is being felt by people and will have long term impacts ranging from individual health and happiness to the future shape of our economy.
'Modern life is more complex than ever. Housing, social media and technology, political ruptures, spiritual disenfranchisement, a climate crisis, the cost of living, even the instability of old institutions such as marriage and the family seem to be creaking under the pressure of the modern world.'
Edward Davies, research director of the CSJ, said: 'The data in this report confirms a lot of what we are hearing at the CSJ: it is harder to meet someone, harder to find a long-term partner and it is harder to move in with someone. Left unchecked this will impact everything from individual health to happiness to the economic viability of the UK.
'This can no longer be considered simple anecdote or a generational failure. Instead, we must start to wonder why there is so clearly this rapid decline.
'We will not shy away from asking the hard questions about relationships and society. These are problems that should worry all of us as it is the country's future that is being failed.'
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