As of 2025, Sri Lanka had the lowest divorce rate in the world, with 0.15 divorces per 1,000 population. Vietnam and Guatemala followed with 0.2 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants.

Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. Divorce laws vary considerably around the world, but in most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process, which may involve issues of distribution of property, child custody, alimony (spousal support), child visitation/access, parenting time, child support, and division of debt. In most countries, monogamy is required by law, so divorce allows each former partner to marry another person.

According to a recent survey of 191 CDFA professionals from across North America, the three leading causes of divorce are "basic incompatibility" (43%), "infidelity" (28%), and "money issues" (22%).

In this dataset, we can spot facts about divorces, and trends across countries - continents. Mainly we have the marriage, divorce rates and the percentage score as well as numbers of divorces (given by the source and year as provided).

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.

China Population: Divorce Rate data was reported at 0.256 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.204 % for 2022. China Population: Divorce Rate data is updated yearly, averaging 0.097 % from Dec 1978 (Median) to 2023, with 46 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.336 % in 2019 and a record low of 0.018 % in 1978. China Population: Divorce Rate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Marriage and Divorce.

According to the 2020 UNIDOMO questionnaire, Portugal clearly led the list of European countries with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages. With 91.5 divorces the Portuguese Republic led the list, followed by Spain and Luxembourg. All three countries boast a significantly higher share than the other European countries, each reporting a divorce rate over 80 divorces.

A different way to look at Portugal

While Portugal clearly has the most divorces per 100 marriages, looking at divorce rates per 1.000 inhabitants in other European countries alters the picture of the country as one unsettled by significant numbers of divorces. With nearly 1.7 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants Portugal has roughly the same divorce rate as Germany and the Netherlands. Interesting is furthermore that although marriages in Portugal tend to result in divorce lightly more often as in Luxembourg (80.3%), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg experienced a 0.6 point higher divorce rate.

What about the rest of the World?

While compared with Latin American countries like Guatemala or Peru, ranked among the countries with the lowest divorce rates in the world, Luxembourg’s divorce rate seems excessive. However, when compared with divorce rates (per 1.000 inhabitants) of countries like the United States (2.7) or China (3.5) divorce rates from Luxembourg and Europe are not out of the ordinary.

Vital Statistics: Japanese Only: Per 1000: Divorce Rate data was reported at 1.700 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.730 % for 2016. Vital Statistics: Japanese Only: Per 1000: Divorce Rate data is updated yearly, averaging 1.280 % from Dec 1947 (Median) to 2017, with 71 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.300 % in 2002 and a record low of 0.730 % in 1963. Vital Statistics: Japanese Only: Per 1000: Divorce Rate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.G005: Vital Statistics.

Singapore Male Divorce Rate: Per 1000 Married Resident Males: 50 & Over data was reported at 3.700 NA in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.600 NA for 2016. Singapore Male Divorce Rate: Per 1000 Married Resident Males: 50 & Over data is updated yearly, averaging 2.550 NA from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2017, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.700 NA in 2017 and a record low of 0.800 NA in 1983. Singapore Male Divorce Rate: Per 1000 Married Resident Males: 50 & Over data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Singapore – Table SG.G007: Vital Statistics: Marriages & Divorces.

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.

Socially monogamous birds may break up their partnership by a so-called ’divorce’ behaviour. Divorce rate immensely varies across avian taxa that have a predominantly monogamous social mating system. Although a range of factors associated with divorce have been tested, broad-scale drivers of divorce rate remain contentious. Moreover, the impact of sexual roles in divorce still needs further investigation due to the conflicting interest of males and females. Here we applied phylogenetic comparative methods to analyse one of the largest datasets ever compiled that included divorce rates from published studies of 186 avian species from 25 orders and 61 families. We tested correlations between divorce rate and a group of factors: ‘promiscuity’ of both sexes (propensity of polygamy), migration distance, and adult mortality. Our results showed that only male promiscuity, but not female promiscuity, had a positive relationship with divorce rate. Furthermore, migration distance was positively correlated with divorce rate, while adult mortality rate showed no direct relationship with divorce rate. These findings indicated that divorce might not be a simple adaptive (by sexual selection) or non-adaptive strategy (by accidental loss of a partner), but could be a mixed response to sexual conflict and stress from the ambient environment. Methods We used data from Kenny et al. (2017), Liker et al. (2014), Botero et al. (2012), Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://birdsoftheworld.org) and other published literature (cited in the table). For migration distance, we used data from Delhey et al. 2021. Adult mortality rate was extracted from the AVONET database. Our final dataset contains 232 avian species from 25 orders and 61 families, and the number of species with the full dataset is 186.

Botero, C.A., Dustin, R. , & Rubenstein. (2012). Fluctuating environments, sexual selection and the evolution of flexible mate choice in birds. PLoS ONE, 7(2), e32311. 10.1371/journal.pone.0032311

Delhey, K. , Dale, J. , Valcu, M. , & Kempenaers, B. . (2021). Migratory birds are lighter coloured. Current Biology, 31(23), R1511-R1512. 10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.048

Kenny, K. , Birkhead, T. R. , & Green, J. P. (2017). Allopreening in birds is associated with parental cooperation over offspring care and stable pair bonds across years. Behavioral Ecology, 28(4), 1142-1148. 10.1093/beheco/arx078

Liker, A. , Freckleton, R. P. , & Székely, T. (2014). Divorce and infidelity are associated with skewed adult sex ratios in birds. Current Biology, 24, 880–884. 10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.059 Tobias, J.A., Sheard, C., Pigot, A.L., Devenish, A.J.M., Yang, J., Sayol, F., et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters, 25, 581– 597. 10.1111/ele.13898

This World Marriage Dataset provides a comparable and up-to-date set of data on the marital status of the population by age and sex for 232 countries or different regions of the world from 1970 to 2019. There are 271605 rows and 9 columns in this dataset. Each row of the dataset represents a specific age group of men, either divorced or married or Single. The columns include:

Sr. No.: A serial number to identify each entry. Country: The country of focus. Age Group: The age range of the surveyed individuals. Sex: The gender of the surveyed individuals. Marital Status: The marital status of the individuals, categorized as either "Divorced" or "Married" or "Single". Data Process: The method used to collect the data. Data Collection (Start Year): The year when data collection began. Data Collection (End Year): The year when data collection ended. Data Source: The source of the data. This dataset helps to understand the marital status distribution among different age groups of men and women in all over the world from 1970 to 2019.

Hong Kong Divorce Statistics: Divorce Decrees data was reported at 19,394.000 Unit in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 17,196.000 Unit for 2016. Hong Kong Divorce Statistics: Divorce Decrees data is updated yearly, averaging 13,129.000 Unit from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2017, with 37 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22,271.000 Unit in 2013 and a record low of 2,060.000 Unit in 1981. Hong Kong Divorce Statistics: Divorce Decrees data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census and Statistics Department. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong SAR – Table HK.G013: Vital Statistics: GHS: RPA: Marriages.

Armenia Vital Statistics: Crude Divorce Rate: per 1000 Population data was reported at 1.500 Person in 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.500 Person for 2023. Armenia Vital Statistics: Crude Divorce Rate: per 1000 Population data is updated yearly, averaging 1.100 Person from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2024, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.500 Person in 2024 and a record low of 0.400 Person in 2000. Armenia Vital Statistics: Crude Divorce Rate: per 1000 Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Armenia – Table AM.G003: Vital Statistics.

United States Marriage Statistics

Marriage rates by gender, age group, and year in the United States (2005-2017)

By Throwback Thursday [source]

About this dataset

This dataset, titled United States Marriage Status 2005-2017, provides detailed information on marriage rates and population estimates in the United States. The data is sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.

The dataset includes several key attributes that offer insights into different aspects of marriage status. These attributes include Year, Gender, Age Group, Metric, Estimated Percent, and Estimated Population.

The Year attribute represents the year in which the data was collected, spanning from 2005 to 2017. It allows for analysis of trends and changes in marriage rates over time.

The Gender attribute categorizes the population groups based on their gender. This information helps explore any variations or differences between male and female populations in terms of marital status.

Age Group attribute classifies individuals into specific age categories within the population. By segmenting the data based on age groups, it becomes possible to analyze how different age demographics contribute to overall marriage rates.

Metric serves as a descriptor for specific measurements or indicators being reported within this dataset. This attribute provides further context for understanding different aspects related to marriage status and its calculation methods.

Estimated Percent denotes the estimated percentage of a particular population group falling into a specific category related to marital status. It offers valuable insights into relative proportions within each demographic group.

Estimated Population showcases estimated count figures representing various subgroups' populations classified by gender, age groupings, and metric categories specified previously. These estimates allow researchers to explore potential correlations between population sizes and marriage rates across various segments of society over time period covered by this dataset.

Overall, this comprehensive United States Marriage Status dataset provides a valuable resource for analyzing trends in marriage rates while considering gender demographics, age distributions within these populations along with respective metrics indicating changes occurring over time periods marked since 2005 until 2017 (date-range excluding exact dates provided). By exploring relationships among these factors using reliable census data available through American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, researchers can gain deep understanding of marriage status dynamics in the United States

How to use the dataset

• Understand the Columns:

  • Year: This column represents the year in which the data was collected. It provides a timeline for analyzing marriage trends over time.
  • Gender: This column categorizes individuals based on their gender, providing insights into marriage rates and patterns specific to each gender.
  • Age Group: This column categorizes individuals based on their age group. It allows for a detailed analysis of marriage rates and statistics among different age groups.
  • Metric: This column specifies the type of data or measurement being reported, providing clarity on what aspect of marriage is being analyzed.
  • Estimated Percent: This column represents the estimated percentage of individuals within a population group falling into a particular category. It quantifies marriage rates as percentages.
  • Estimated Population: This column provides an estimation of the total population count within a specific category, offering insights into the size and distribution of different population groups.

• Analyzing Trends: Use this dataset to analyze trends in US marriage statistics by leveraging various combinations of columns:

  • Gender vs Metric: Compare different metrics (e.g., number of marriages, divorce rate) between genders, allowing for an understanding of any gender-specific variations in marital trends.
  • Year vs Metric: Study changes in various metrics over time (e.g., changes in average age at first marriage), identifying trends and potential shifts in societal attitudes towards marriage.
  • Age Group vs Metric/Gender/Year: Examine how different age groups contribute to overall marital statistics (e.g., comparing divorce rates among different age groups or analyzing changes over time within specific age cohorts).

• Interpreting Results: When analyzing this dataset's results, keep these factors in mind:

  • Size Differences: Ensure you factor in the estimated population count for eac...

Portugal was the European country with the highest divorce rate in 2020, counting almost 92 divorces per 100 marriages. However, in 2023, the divorce-marriage ratio decreased to 47 percent. In 2020, the ratio peaked because of the drop in marriages during the coronavirus (COVID-19) related lockdown. Pandemic years registered the lowest numbers of marriages and divorces since 2010 Until 2019, the annual divorce rate in Portugal had been relatively stable at around two divorces per 1,000 residents. Nevertheless, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the lowest divorce rate so far was recorded at 1.7, which may be explained by the restrictions imposed by lockdowns and the delays in administrative and bureaucratic services. Still, and due to the same reasons, the number of marriages also suffered a steep decline in 2020 to around 18,900, more than doubling in 2022 and surpassing 2011 figures. First marriages and motherhood occur later in life in Portugal The mean age on first marriage of both men and women in Portugal has been increasing at an almost constant pace for years. 2021 marked an inversion of this tendency, with the mean age of men when marrying for the first time decreasing to 34.3 years of age and the mean age of women decreasing to 32.9 years. However, the rising trend in age was quickly reestablished, as 2022 recorded the highest mean age on first marriage for both sexes. Under the same inclination is the average age of women when giving birth to their first child, which was at 30.9 years in 2021, increasing two years of age in relation to 2010.

Albania Vital Statistics: Divorces: per 100 Marriages data was reported at 15.800 % in 2021. This records a decrease from the previous number of 24.400 % for 2020. Albania Vital Statistics: Divorces: per 100 Marriages data is updated yearly, averaging 13.972 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2021, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 26.100 % in 2019 and a record low of 5.900 % in 1997. Albania Vital Statistics: Divorces: per 100 Marriages data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Institute of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Albania – Table AL.G003: Vital Statistics.

West Bank and Gaza had the highest marriage rate in the world as of 2018, with 10 marriages per every 1,000 population. Fiji followed directly with 9.8 marriages. Thereafter, Egypt and Bahamas counted 9.6 and 9.5 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, ranking third and fourth, respectively. By contrast, Qatar, French Guiana, and Peru had the lowest marriage rates worldwide in that same year.

Singapore Female Divorce Rate: Per 1,000 Married Resident Males Aged 20 & Over data was reported at 6.500 NA in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.600 NA for 2016. Singapore Female Divorce Rate: Per 1,000 Married Resident Males Aged 20 & Over data is updated yearly, averaging 6.500 NA from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2017, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.800 NA in 2003 and a record low of 3.800 NA in 1988. Singapore Female Divorce Rate: Per 1,000 Married Resident Males Aged 20 & Over data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Singapore – Table SG.G007: Vital Statistics: Marriages & Divorces.

Divorce Counseling Service Market size was valued at USD 65.68 Billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 103.65 Billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period 2024-2031.Increasing Divorce Rates: Growing divorce rates in many regions are a primary driver for the demand for counseling services. As more individuals seek to navigate the complexities of divorce, the need for professional counseling increases.Awareness of Mental Health: Increasing awareness of mental health and the importance of emotional well-being has led more people to seek counseling services. Individuals going through a divorce often face significant emotional distress and may be more inclined to seek help.Changing Social Norms: As societal attitudes toward divorce evolve and become more accepting, individuals may feel more comfortable seeking counseling services for support during the divorce process.

Qatar had the lowest marriage rate in the world as of 2018, with 1.4 marriages per every 1,000 population. French Guiana followed with one marriage more than Qatar (2.4). Thereafter, Peru and Venezuela counted 2.5 and 2.6 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, ranking third and fourth, respectively. By contrast, West Bank and Gaza, Fiji, and Egypt had the highest marriage rates worldwide in that same year.