Traditional family patterns are changing in the region, although on the border where West Midlands meets East Midlands there is an overlap of traditional married couples, with South Staffordshire and Lichfield registering the fourth and fifth highest number of married couple households respectively. The more rural areas such as Hereford and Shropshire also have a large married population, as does the picture postcard mineral-water producing Malvern Hills, where only seven per cent of couples cohabit. There were 306,200 weddings in the UK in 2003; the second successive annual increase and 4.5 per cent more than in 2002. However, there has been a long-term decline in the number of marriages since 1972. By contrast, Birmingham is way down the league table for marriage, with only 45 per cent of its population married. Thirty-six per cent of people in Birmingham are single, with 33 per cent living in single households. There are similar numbers of single people in Coventry. The possibility of meeting a fellow singleton is high, too, in Wolverhampton and Warwick, where around one third of its population have yet to find their perfect partner. Unlike the rest of the Midlands, women out-number men in Birmingham. Could it be something to do with single women and all those city centre shops?
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