As a result:
The high prevalence of divorce in the United States reveals some sad truths about modern marriage. For our own good, we should all be aware of the divorce rate and peak times.
Perhaps you’re curious:
How high is America’s current divorce rate?
All right, here’s the deal:
While the divorce rate in the United States has stayed about the same in recent years, it has been falling over the course of the last several decades. However, as the following data demonstrate, the 2019 divorce rate in the United States does not necessarily paint a whole picture of marital success, separations, and relationship breakdowns.
Table of Contents
Divorce Rates in America (Editor’s Pick)
- The current divorce rate in the US is 2.9 persons per 1,000 people.
- Overall, the rate of divorces in America is falling.
- Divorces amongst people aged 50+ years is rising.
- Fewer couples choose to marry than pre-1990.
- The U.S. divorce rate is amongst one of the highest in the world.
- There are currently over 750,000 divorces in the U.S. each year.
- Most Americans who file for divorce do so between January and March.
Divorce Rates in America Statistics 2022
1. The divorce rate in America is 2.9 per 1,000.
The current divorce rate in the United States is only 2.9% per 1,000 people, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While this study was intended to represent a nationwide snapshot, only 45 states and DC supplied data in sufficient quantity to be included. Because to the omission of five states (Indiana, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Minnesota), the exact number could be different.
2. Recent divorce rates suggest a decrease in the number of people dissolving their marriage.
Since 1960, the divorce rate has risen steadily. Divorce rates, however, have been on the decline since 1990. That marriage and cohabitation patterns are shifting so dramatically over time is strongly suggested by these data. Examining the annual divorce rate statistics makes clear that the divorce rate in the US is falling over time.
3. More people in the US were married in 2018 than in 1960.
More people in the United States got married in 2018 than they had in 1960, despite the fact that the divorce rate has been rising steadily since the 1980s. It’s possible that this highlights how population growth affects the rates of marriage and divorce.
4. Over three-quarters of a million divorces took place in the US in 2017.
There were about 787,251 divorces finalised in the United States in 2017, which equates to over 1.5 million divorcees. It seems expected that the annual number of divorces in the United States will continue to decrease as the national divorce rate continues to plummet.
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5. Remarriage increases the risk of divorce.
Divorce is more common the more times you’ve been married, according to the Census Bureau. What this means is that multiple marriages increase your chances of ending in divorce.
6. There is a seasonal spike in divorces in the US.
There is a peak in divorce filings between January and March. A number of academics have hypothesized that this reflects the actual or perceived stress on families over the winter holidays.
7. Divorce rates vary dramatically from state to state.
Illinois and Louisiana both have divorce rates of 1.9 per 1,000 residents, making them the states with the lowest divorce rates in the country. But on the other end of the spectrum, Nevada and Oklahoma have the highest divorce rates (4.5 and 4.1 per 1,000 residents, respectively).
8. The average length of a marriage in the US is 8.2 years.
Though Americans spend just over eight years together on average, those who tie the knot in the Big Apple tend to stay together for far longer. Empire State marriages have a far greater average lifespan than the rest of the country at 12.2 years. Since getting a divorce might take up to a year, some academics believe the true amount is closer to seven years.
There is some good news, though:
9. The likelihood of divorce might be less than you think.
When it comes to divorce in the United States, the most frequently asked question is:
How common is divorce, exactly?
Now for the clincher:
Assumptions of roughly 50% are widely held. Nonetheless, estimates place the divorce rate in the United States anywhere from 40% to 50%. This indicates that keeping your marriage together is more likely than getting a divorce. In other words, there’s some good news!
Further, this is not all of it:
10. The divorce rate today is lower than a decade ago.
Divorce rates in the United States have dropped dramatically since 2008 and 2009. The divorce rate has been dropping over the past decade, despite a small uptick in 2011–12.
High legal bills, which might exceed $12,000, are a key contributor. Thankfully, more and more people are opting to divorce their spouses online, which can save them thousands of dollars.
11. The national divorce rate for adults aged between 25-39 years is 24 per 1,000 persons.
The rate is 21 for every 1,000 people in the 40-49 age group. Divorce occurs at a rate of 10 per 1,000 people among seniors 50 and older. It’s easy to see that there are large racial and ethnic variances in divorce rates when broken down by age.
12. The rate of divorce after 10 years is 48% for those who marry before the age of 18.
The rate is 75% for those who marry before the age of 25 and only 25% for those who wait until after that age. There is a 44-60% likelihood of divorce for couples who marry between the ages of 20 and 25.
Here’s the gist of it:
These data show that divorce rates do vary depending on the ages of the spouses.
13. “Gray divorce” rates have risen dramatically over the last 30 years.
There has been a near-doubling in the divorce rate among Americans aged 50 and up since 1990. In fact, it has tripled among individuals aged 65 and up, from 2 in 1,000 married people to 6 in 1,000. Statistically, this means that divorcing is more common among those over the age of 50 than at any time in the past.
14. Successful marriage statistics are on the increase.
In proportion to the general decline in divorce rates, the percentage of happy marriages is rising. In the United States, marriage has a 50-60% chance of lasting at least a year without terminating in divorce, despite having a 40-50% chance of doing so. The odds of a happy marriage in the modern era are higher than at any time in history.
15. Ages 28-32 could be the best time to get married.
Divorce rates, as we all know by now, change with age. However, divorce rates do not rise or fall in a linear fashion with age. Yet, the likelihood of divorce decreases dramatically for those who tie the knot in their late twenties or early thirties.
16. People are 75% more likely to end their marriage if a friend is divorced.
Researchers at Brown University found that hanging out with people who are divorced significantly raised the participants’ own risk of divorce. Having a friend who is divorced increases your likelihood of divorcing by 75%, whereas knowing someone whose friend is divorced increases your likelihood by 33%.
17. Second marriages have a higher rate of divorce.
Statistics reveal that the percentage rises to 67% for second marriages and a staggering 75% for third marriages from the 40%-50% seen in first marriages. Obviously, the third time isn’t the charm when it comes to finding lasting love.
18. Divorce rates may not give the true picture.
It’s true that divorce rates have gone down, but marriage rates have gone down as well in recent years. It’s crucial to put divorce and marriage numbers into perspective when making comparisons. 9.8 out of every 1,000 Americans tied the knot in the 1990s. Six point nine out of every 1,000 people. In light of the growing trend of unmarried cohabitation, it is clear that the divorce rate no longer provides a reliable indicator of the frequency with which couples end their long-term relationships.
19. Separation doesn’t count in terms of divorce statistics.
Most couples that decide to live apart end up divorcing, however this is not always the case.
Look at this:
Although the divorce rate for separated white women is 91% after three years, it reduces to 77% for Hispanic women and 67% for black women. Statistics on divorce may be underestimating the true rate of marriage dissolution because of the exclusion of long-term separations.
20. Education may impact divorce rates.
The average divorce rate is different for couples with different levels of education. For the first-time-married group of women with a bachelor’s degree from 2006-2010, 78% had a reasonable expectation of their marriage lasting at least 20 years. On the other hand, just 49% of women who have completed some college and 40% of women who have completed only high school have a similar marriage longevity expectation.
21. Are education-related divorce rates skewed?
Statistics on the topic of divorce suggest that those with a higher education level are less likely to have a divorce, but this may not be the whole story. Those who wait until after they graduate from college to start a family are often older than those who only have a high school diploma. In this light, it’s possible that the correlation between education and divorce rates is due less to the level of schooling held by each partner and more to the fact that most divorces occur in young families.
22. Millennial divorce rate is lower than those of their predecessors.
Divorce rates are lowest among those who were born between 1981 and 1996. However, the fact that millennials tend to marry later in life and many choose cohabitation over marriage may have an effect on the divorce rate. There may be a correlation between the low divorce rate among millennials and the fact that they marry at a younger age and cohabit less than previous generations.
23. Millenials are more cautious about marriage.
Marriage rates in the United States may be on the decline, although this trend may reflect a more cautious attitude than a widespread distaste for the institution.
Here’s the thing:
Many millennials wait to start a family until they have finished college and established themselves professionally. Compared to data from before 1980, the average age that millennials decide to get married is significantly higher now that both marriage and divorce rates have declined in the United States.
24. Cohabiting can impact your risk of divorce.
A divorce is less likely to occur in the first 20 years of marriage for couples who did not cohabitate before getting married. Men who live with their future wives before getting married have a 49% chance of being married for at least 20 years without getting a divorce, while women in the same situation have a 46% chance of doing the same.
25. Divorce is less likely than cohabitee break-ups.
About one in five first marriages end in divorce within the first five years. When compared, the divorce rate for cohabiting couples is 49% after five years. Separation is more likely to occur within the first two years of marriage (33% vs. 62%), and within the first decade of marriage (33% vs. 62%) for cohabiting couples. Statistically speaking, married couples tend to stay together for a longer period of time than unmarried cohabitants.
26. Incompatibility is the leading cause of divorce in the US.
Why do people typically split up?
The leading cause of divorce in the United States is “fundamental incompatibility,” as reported by the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts. About half of the people who participated in the study gave this as the main reason they decided to divorce. Divorce statistics showed that infidelity and financial problems were also major factors in 28% and 22% of cases, respectively. Statistics show that arguments about child rearing are the leading cause of divorce, however other factors such as substance misuse and physical violence also factor heavily.
Same-sex Marriage and Divorce in the US.
27. Gay marriage divorce rate is still unclear.
Statistical evidence revealed that the same-sex divorce rate was roughly 50% lower than the divorce rate for people of different sexes, according to a study published by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. But it was then retracted because of a mistake in the data analysis. New data showed that the annual divorce rate for the general population was roughly 2%, regardless of whether or not either spouse was straight.
28. Same-sex divorce data is still limited in the US.
There is currently no reliable statistics on the rate of same-sex divorces in the United States, as same-sex marriages were only legally recognised at the federal level in 2013. Data on same-sex divorce rates should become more readily available in the next 10–20 years.
29. Same-sex divorce rates may not give a true picture of relationship breakdowns.
This may have an impact on future divorce rates for couples of the same sex, as states have introduced legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in a variety of ways and at different dates. As it is, same-sex couples can legally get married in multiple states. If they decide to formally separate, they will need to take legal steps to end their marriage in each state or territory where they once lived together. As a result, data may be skewed if one spouse files for divorce many times. It’s for this reason that divorce rates are reported differently by different organisations.
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Divorce and Children in America
30. 52% of single parents have been married at some point.
Just over half of all parents who are not married are considered single parents. Although some divorces are the result of one spouse’s death, the fact that there are so many children being raised by single parents suggests that divorce is the norm rather than the exception.
31. 35% of parents who are now cohabiting were once married.
More than a third of currently cohabitating parents were previously married, according to the Pew Research Center. This suggests that many children are being raised by or are now residing with unofficial step-parents.
32. Children of divorce are more likely to become a divorcee.
It has been shown that the likelihood of a child divorcing in the future is increased by a factor of four if both parents divorced when they were young. Divorce is statistically more likely if one’s parents were divorced, and this trend persists even after controlling for religious, moral, and social characteristics.
US Divorce Rates Compared to the Rest of the World
33. US divorce rates are higher than those of other continents.
The divorce rate in the United States is statistically significantly higher than the European average.
Now:
Divorce rates in Europe vary widely, with some countries having rates not much different from the United States and others having far lower rates. The average divorce rate in Europe is lower than in the United States.
34. The US has one of the highest crude divorce rates in the world.
Divorce is more prevalent in the United States than in many other developed nations, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, and Mexico, with a crude divorce rate of 2.9 per 1,000 inhabitants.
35. America has the third highest divorce rate in the world.
The Maldives has the highest annual divorce rate in the world at 10.97 per 1,000 people, as reported by the United Nations. When compared to other countries, Belarus’s divorce rate of 4.63 per 1,000 is second only to the United States.
Conclusion
The rate of divorce in the United States is a microcosm of the evolution of marriage and public opinion in the United States.
Now, the insider info:
The rates of marriage and divorce are both declining. These numbers show that informal personal arrangements are gaining popularity at the expense of legally registered unions.
Now:
Statistics on marriage dissolution, whether broken down by year or by number of years of marriage, reflect shifting cultural attitudes. Marriage used to be the norm, but nowadays it’s less of a necessity.
In conclusion:
In spite of widespread anticipation of a rise in the divorce rate between 1950 and the present, the reverse has occurred. Predictions made today about future numbers may also prove to be unexpected.
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