Marriage and civil partnerships in Pembrokeshire dropped in the past decade with nearly a third of people now single new census figures show.

The number of people considered single – never having been in a civil partnership or marriage – in Pembrokeshire when the census took place last year was 32,566, up from 28,538 in 2011.

Of those aged 16 and older in Pembrokeshire, 31.8 per cent were single – an increase on 28.4 per cent in 2011.

And 47.3 per cent of people in Pembrokeshire were married or in a civil partnership last year – down from 50.5 per cent 10 years prior.

Data from the census shows 48,044 people were in opposite sex marriages last year, down from 50,580 in 2011.

An additional 220 were in same sex marriages in Pembrokeshire last year – they were not legal in 2011 so no data exists.

The figures also show 149 people were in same sex civil partnerships last year and 74 were in opposite sex civil partnerships. There were 133 people in civil partnerships 10 years prior, which were only allowed for same sex couples at the time.

There were 10,888 divorced people and 24 people with a dissolved civil partnership in Pembrokeshire last year, making up 10.6 percent 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 3 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 percent of the population were divorced or no longer in a civil partnership, up slightly from nine per cent a decade prior.