More than 2,000 children in Northern Ireland are affected each year by the trauma of divorce, according to statistics published today.
The report by the British Registrar General revealed there were more than 2,300 divorces in Northern Ireland last year. A total of 2,205 children under 16 were directly affected.
Ms Linda Wright from the counselling service Relate said the figures did not take into account the children who are affected by separation.
She added: "We know from working with families for a long time that children will be affected in a lot of ways." These include practical matters such as having to move home or school and being separated from friends.
"They are also affected emotionally. The whole distress can affect them behaviourally. They might start acting up at school or not sleeping," she added.
The report also revealed that Northern Ireland has the youngest population in the United Kingdom. Twenty-three per cent of the population was aged under 16 with 36 per cent under 25.
This compares to 20 per cent aged under 16 and 31 per cent aged under 25 in the UK as a whole.
However, the number of children has fallen by more than 30,000 from 418,500 in 1993 to 388,100 in 2003 - a drop from 26 to 23 per cent.
The report showed that Northern Ireland's total population increased by around 0.4 per cent or 6,000 people in a year. The estimated population in June 2003 was 1,702,600.