Home Is Where The Heart Is: Stable Marriage Set For Return In Millennium Britain

Stable marriage will be the most important ingredient for a happy home life in Millennium Britain, according to a new Alliance & Leicester public opinion poll by MORI.

The public's new found faith in the institution of marriage follows a 30-year period during which fewer British people have got married (the number of first marriages has halved) and the number of UK divorces has more than doubled . The Alliance & Leicester poll, conducted by MORI, suggests that there are aspects of home life that are more important than 'living in a nice house'.

Alliance & Leicester, which has today added two new flexible mortgages to its range, has carried out this survey as part of its Homeowner 2025 research which explores the changing role of the home in domestic, community and working life over the next 25 years - the traditional mortgage term. The survey asked 1,938 people what would be the most important ingredient to family life in 25 years time. Key findings included:

• Stable marriage and less divorce topped the poll with more than one in four people (26 per cent). The importance attached to stable marriage was consistent across all age groups, dispelling the possibility that the findings on marriage were simply a symptom of youthful idealism.
• A safe neighbourhood was the second most important factor: 22 per cent of people said that living in a safe neighbourhood would be key to a happy home life.
• More than one in six people (17 per cent) identified access to good healthcare as the key ingredient for a happy Millennium home. People on low incomes were twice as likely to rate access to healthcare as important as the more affluent.
• Working from home was a deciding factor for one in ten people (10 per cent).
• The desire of many people to cut out the stress of travelling to work was supported by a further 6% of people saying that having more leisure time would be the most important ingredient of a happy Millennium home.
• Access to good education was chosen by 15 per cent of voters. Opinion here was not based on whether people had children.
• Bottom of people's list was the physical look of the home itself. Only three per cent of people said that living in a nice house would be the key ingredient to a happy home.

Technical details

The MORI research was undertaken in September 1999 among a GB representative sample of 1,938 people.