Rates of marriage breakdown in England and Wales are continuing to fall – and fewer women are filing for divorce, according to analysis released by Marriage Foundation.

Tomorrow, Valentine's Day, is traditionally a date when many couples take the plunge and get engaged. Marriage Foundation says its research paints an encouraging picture of what they can expect.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that divorce rates continue to fall and are currently at the same level as in the early 1970s, with 101,669 divorces granted in 2017, compared to 164,672 divorces in the peak year of 1993.

Analysis also shows that during the past 25 years, the number of divorces granted to wives has fallen by nearly 50 per cent, while the number of divorces granted to husbands has fallen by around 15 per cent.

From 1993 – the peak year for divorce – until 2017, divorces granted to wives in England and Wales fell by 55,689, a fall of 47 per cent from 118,401 to 62,712. In contrast, divorces granted to husbands fell by just 7,314 during the same period – a fall of 15 per cent from 46,271 to 38,957.

Previous research by Marriage Foundation has found that this reduction in divorces granted to wives is heavily concentrated in the early years of marriage. This suggests, it says, that either today's newlywed wives are more tolerant of their husbands or that reduced social and family pressure to marry means that the new generation of newlywed husbands are more committed as they are making the decision to get married with clearer intent.

'In this #MeToo era, where men's past bad behaviour towards women is being challenged – and quite rightly – we are now seeing clear evidence that men's behaviour in their marriages at least has improved substantially over the last 25 years,' said Harry Benson, research director for Marriage Foundation.

'I believe that family stability is improving – and will continue to improve over the next decade – precisely because men who marry today are so much more committed to their wives. They are "deciders" and not "sliders". That is feeding directly through to happier wives, happier marriages, and happier teenagers.'

Sir Paul Coleridge, former high court judge and founder of Marriage Foundation, said: 'These new and very clear statistics demand analysis and explanation. During the years when I was engaged on a daily basis in the family justice system, wives were almost always the initiators of divorce. That is becoming less and less true year by year. Why? The only sensible explanation is that men are behaving more responsibly when it comes to marriage.

'The solid married commitments they are making are mostly when they are older and perhaps wiser, and so far as women are concerned, husbands are keeping to these commitments better. Whatever the detractors may say or hope, marriage is alive and well and remains the gold standard for long term committed relationships today.'