Some four in 10 marriages now end in divorce, compared with just 12% in 1971, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

One in three women born between 1965 and 1970 has either gone through divorce or the break-up of a formal relationship by the time they reach the age of 40, the CBS said.

Of the women born between 1940 and 1945 fewer than 11% had broken up with a partner by the time they hit 40.

Younger women are less likely to go through a formal divorce because fewer of them are opting for marriage and if they do tie the knot, they do so at a later age, the CBS said.