Number of Wigan singletons has increased in the past decade as marriage rates fall

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 Wigan when the census took place last year was 100,070, up from 84,705 in 2011.

Of those aged 16 and older in Wigan, 37.2 per cent were single – an increase on 32.9 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 43.8 per cent of people in Wigan were married or in a civil partnership last year – down from 47.6 per cent 10 years prior.

Data from the census shows 116,708 people were in opposite sex marriages last year, down from 122,180 in 2011.

An additional 625 were in same sex marriages in Wigan last year – they were illegal in 2011.

The figures also show 219 people were in same sex civil partnerships last year and 167 were in opposite sex civil partnerships.

There were 482 people in civil partnerships 10 years prior, which were only allowed for same sex couples at the time.

There were 26,294 divorced people and 54 people with a dissolved civil partnership in Wigan last year, making up 9.8 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," Mr Wroth-Smith added.

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.