Nearly a third of people in Tendring were single as the number of marriage and civil partnerships dropped in the past decade, new census figures show.

The area follows trends across England and Wales, where the rate of single people has increased since the last census in 2011.

The number of people considered single – never having been in a civil partnership or marriage – in Tendring when the census took place last year was 38,443, up from 30239 in 2011.

Of those aged 16 and older in Tendring, 30.8% were single – an increase on 26.2% in 2011.

The picture was similar across England and Wales last year, where 37.9% of people 16 and older were single, up from 34.6% in 2011.

And 46.2% of people in Tendring were married or in a civil partnership last year – down from 50.3% 10 years prior.

Data from the census shows 57,137 people were in opposite sex marriages last year, down from 57,931 in 2011.

An additional 289 were in same sex marriages in Tendring last year – they were illegal in 2011.

The figures also show 151 people were in same sex civil partnerships last year and 66 were in opposite sex civil partnerships. There were 196 people in civil partnerships 10 years prior, which were only allowed for same sex couples at the time.

There were 14,242 divorced people and 20 people with a dissolved civil partnership in Tendring last year, making up 11.4% 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% of those aged 16 and older. And 9.1% of the population were divorced or no longer in a civil partnership, up slightly from 9% a decade prior.