Original article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19059586

The number of civil partnerships in the UK has risen, according to provisional figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

There were 6,795 such partnerships in 2011, an increase of 6.4% since 2010.

And the provisional number of civil partnership dissolutions granted in the UK rose by 28.7% over the same period, to 672.

Civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples.

However, the law does not allow such unions to be referred to as marriages.

A dissolution is a legal end to such a partnership.

In 2011, there were slightly more male unions - 50.7% - than female.

But the previous year there had been slightly more partnerships between women - 51.2% - than men.

The ONS said: "Initially the numbers of males forming civil partnerships were much higher than females. Since 2007, the numbers of male and female civil partnerships have been converging.

Gay marriage

"This reflects examples of other European countries that have seen a majority of early civil partnerships being formed by male couples followed by more converged figures."

The figures also showed that the average age of men forming a civil partnership in the UK in 2011 was 40.