DIVORCE STATISTICS: OVER 115 STUDIES, FACTS AND RATES FOR 2020
If you spend enough time perusing the internet, you’ll find no shortage of studies, statistics, facts about divorce.
There seems to be a study looking into almost every possible factor that might affect marriages and lead to divorce. These studies have yielded some extremely interesting and – in some cases – downright shocking information about divorce in both the United States and the rest of the world.
Just in case you don’t have 20 hours to spare (it may or may not have taken this long to create this list), we have compiled a nearly exhaustive list with every divorce statistic, study, and fact that we could find. As we move into 2022, our San Diego divorce lawyer team has provided everything you need to know – and quite possibly more- about divorce.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC DIVORCE STATISTICS
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and varying states of lockdowns all over the United States and the World, we may be in for the largest single-year increase in divorce in decades. We will keep track of any reports and data that come out over the next year and report here.
What we know so far
- Jurisdictions all over the world and in nearly every city in the U.S. have reported significant increases in domestic violence.
- Relationships experiencing problems are likely being stressed to the point of breaking by factors such as the lockdown, financial strain and political discord.
- We won’t have a full picture of the fallout until 2021 at the earliest.
US DIVORCE RATE
US divorce and marriage rates by year
1.) In 2019(the latest data available) the marriage rate in the United States was 6.1 per 1,000 total population.
2.) In the same year, the divorce rate was the U.S. is 2.7 per 1,000 population (with 44 states and D.C. reporting) This is known as the “crude divorce rate”. Although useful for describing changes in divorce rates over time, the crude divorce rate does not provide accurate information on the percentage of first marriages that end in divorce.
3.) As of 2019, both marriage rates AND divorce rates in the US are decreasing – with the marriage rate dropping from 8.2 per 1,ooo people in 2000 to 6.1 and the divorce rate from 4.0 in 2000 to 2.7. Recent studies have shown that millennials are choosing to wait longer to get married and staying married longer and are the main driver in the decline of both the marriage and divorce rate in the US.
4.) Currently, the divorce rate per 1000 married women is 16.9. Many experts feel that this is a much more accurate measure of true divorce rate than the crude rate.
5.) The divorce rate per 1000 married women is nearly double that of 1960, but down from the all-time high of 22.6 in the early 1980s.
6.) Almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation.
7.) Researchers estimate that 41 percent of all first marriages end in divorce.
8.) 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce.
9.) 73 percent of all third marriages end in divorce.
10.) The United States has the 6th highest divorce rate in the world. Here is a chart of the top twenty: