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Marriage: Relatives

Asked by Rupert LoweRestore BritainMinistry of JusticeTabled Answered 30 January 2026UIN 107847

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the number of marriages between cousins that have taken place in the UK in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones

The number of marriages between relatives, mainly cousins, is not a data set that is collected and the Government therefore cannot give an estimate.

The Office for National Statistics publishes marriage statistics derived from information recorded at the point of marriage registration in England and Wales. This includes data about age, sex, previous marital status and whether the ceremony was civil or religious, but not whether the parties were related.

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