In 2022, the divorce rate in the United States stood at *** per 1,000 of the population. Divorce in the U.S. Divorce is the termination of a marital union. In the United States, as in most other countries, it is a legal process in which a judge or another legal authority dissolves the bonds of matrimony existing between two persons. The process of divorce also normally involves issues surrounding distribution of property, financial support of the former spouse, child custody and child support. A divorce also allows a person to marry again.In the United States, divorce is, like marriage, a matter for state governments, not the federal government. Although divorce laws vary from state to state, for example on which terms a divorce can be arranged, a divorce must be certified by a court of law to become effective. A declining divorce rate Over the last couple of years, both the marriage rate and the divorce rate have been declining in the United States. As of 2009, the average length of a first marriage in the U.S. was ***** years, while the average length of a second marriage was about ** years.

The graph illustrates the yearly percentage of divorces compared to marriages in the United States from 2000 (‘00) to 2023 (‘23). The x-axis shows years in two-digit form, while the y-axis shows the divorce-to-marriage percentage. During this period, the divorce percentage ranged from a high of about 41.7% in 2002 to a low of around 32.6% in 2022. The overall trend reflects a gradual decline in annual divorces relative to marriages, though year-to-year fluctuations remain. These figures should be viewed as approximate estimates.

In 2023, the European country with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages was Finland, with more than 55 divorces. At the bottom of the list was Ireland with only 15.5 divorces per 100 marriages.

As of 2024, the divorce rate in China decreased to *** divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. Before 2020, this number had been constantly increasing since 2002. Divorce rate in Asian countries The divorce rate in China soared from around **** divorces per 1,000 people in 2000 to **** divorces in 2019. This is a quite high value compared to the divorce rate of countries in the Asia Pacific region. However, China shares the fate of a growing divorce rate with many other developing countries, while in most developed countries, the number of divorces per 1,000 inhabitants is either stable or falling. For example, the divorce rate in Singapore has been manly stable at *** divorces per 1,000 inhabitants in the last ten years and the divorce rate in South Korea has fallen from *** in 2009 to *** in 2024. In comparison, the U.S. divorce rate has been falling since 1992 from *** divorces per 1,000 people to *** divorces in 2022. Dating scene in China For the younger generations, dating and marriage happens (if at all) at a much later life stage compared to their parents. The fact that China has the highest working hours in the region does not ease the dire situation for singles in China, most of them being employed as professionals or employed in the media sector, where long working hours and high work pressure are quite common.