divorce statistics

European Divorce Rate– 2010

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There is now an updated list showing the 2012 Divorce rates for 39 European countries.

Updated, Crude Divorce Rate-- Europe 2010

The United Nations collects marriage and divorce data for the world.  This chart provides an illustration of the crude divorce rate (number of divorces per 1000 population) for European countries in 2010.  Several countries are not listed which did not report data in 2010.  The most recent crude divorce rates for these countries is as follows:  Albania, 1.1 (2008), Greece, 1.2 (2008), France, 2.0 (2009), Italy, .9 (2009), Portugal, 2.5 (2009), Great Britain,  2.0 (2009).

See the 2011 European Graph. 

More UN demographic reports:

U S Divorce Rates Over the Past 50 Years by Marriage Cohort

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(Also, see a graph of the changes in the divorce rate for the past 100 years.)

The best way to look at the divorce rates over time is to see how long marriages last by age cohorts (all the marriages that occur in a specific 5 year period).  This figure is part of a 2011 report by the U S Census Bureau on timing and duration of marriages. 

To understand this figure look at the percentage of marriages across cohorts that reach 5 years of marriage.  Over 90% of those married between 1960-64 had marriages that lasted at least 5 years.  This rate declined for most of the next cohorts and then by 1995-1999 the percentage making 5 years of marriage rose back to 90%.  You can see the best evidence of the declining divorce rate by looking at the shift in the pattern of marriages lasting 10 and 15 years.  Those marrying in the 1980s were more likely to have marriages lasting at least 10 and 15 years.  As we follow these couples over the next 20-30 years they are likely to continue to have longer marriages.

More divorce statistics are here….

Australian Divorce Rate over the past 100 years

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I was struck by the parallel pattern of the US divorce rate and Australian divorce rate over the past 100 years.  In both countries the rate was increasing slightly before World War II (1940-45), then increases sharply for a few years following the war, and finally spikes in the late 1970s before declining for the past 30 years.

These patterns suggest that the factors that were driving the divorce rate were present in at least two countries.

Illinois Marriage and Divorce Rates from 1958-2009

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The divorce rate in Illinois rose from about 1958 to 1979, then began to fall.  By 2009 the divorce was approaching the same rate as in the early 1960s.

The most dramatic change over the past 50 years is the decline in the rate of marriage.  The highest rate of marriage was in 1973.  The rate has steadily declined since then.  The baby boom children were entering their late teens between 1965-1975.  Clearly they were getting married at a high rate.

These numbers were based on reports produced by the Illinois Department of Public Health.  The original report can be found here: 

Percentage of Married Men Who Divorce

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This figure that is taken from a Census Bureau report that summarizes marriage and divorce patterns in the US illustrates what has been happening over time with the divorce rate.  In this figure you see that the percentage of men who are 30 years old who are divorced has been going down.  Those born between 1960-64 had the highest percentage of divorce and all those born after this time have had a lower rate of divorce.  Those men who were in 1970-1974 are approaching the same rates of divorce as men born in the 1940s.    The pattern is similar for men at ages 35.  We don’t have the data for the men at 40, but the pattern is likely to be the same.

Does where you live influence divorce?

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Hope Scott, Paul Berger and Bruce Weinberg recently published an interesting study that I don’t know quite what to make of.

The study titled, Determinants of the U.S. Divorce Rate: The Impact of Geography and Demography, asserts that where you live has an impact on the divorce rate.  They suggest that personality types vary by region and the distribution of males and females varies by region.  They suggest that these factors contribute to the overall likelihood of marriage and subsequent divorce.  So what do you think?

They cite work by Richard Florida on the “personalities” of different regions of the US, do you think personalities vary by region? Why?