2.5b Rates

Rates

Rates describe how common or rare an occurrence such as birth, marriage, or divorce is in the population. Rates are usually calculated per 1,000 people, 10,000 people, or 100,000 people. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau measures the divorce rate as “the number of people reporting a divorce occurring in the past 12 months per 1,000 population 15 years and over” (Mayol-García et al., 2021, p. 5).

Divorce rates have declined since the 1980s. Figure 2.9 shows that the divorce rate continues to decline. In 2022, the divorce rate was 7.1 per 1,000 women aged 15 years and over (U.S. Census Bureau, 2024). Younger adults are less likely to divorce than in the past because they are more likely to cohabitate. Further, they are also marrying when they are older compared to older adults who married at a younger age (Smock & Schwartz, 2020). Therefore, couples with more risk factors for divorce may not marry at all, or they may marry later. People who are older tend to have more protective factors against divorce that come with age, such as having a college degree and higher income (Raley & Sweeny, 2020).

Divorce rates, however, are higher for couples aged 50 and older (Raley & Sweeney, 2020), a phenomenon called the “gray divorce revolution” (Smock & Schwartz, 2020). As U.S. adults age, their attitudes toward divorce grow more favorable, leading them to consider divorce an acceptable choice and to act on it (Brown & Wright, 2019). While the divorce rate for couples aged 50 or older has increased since 1990, divorce is still more common for those aged 25-49 (Stepler, 2017).

The often-mentioned statistic that 50% of marriages end in divorce is misleading. It is based on comparing the marriage and divorce rates each year. It does not track the longevity of specific marriages. A 2.4 divorce rate is slightly less than half a 6.2 marriage rate (see Table 2.4). However, most currently married people have been married only once and never divorced (see Figures 2.10 and 2.11).