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 percentage of marriages that ended in divorce in the United States from the year 2000 ('00) to 2022 ('22). The x-axis represents the years, labeled with two-digit abbreviations from '00 to '22, while the y-axis displays the divorce rates as percentages. Throughout this period, divorce rates varied between a high of 41.7% in 2002 and a low of 32.62% in 2022. The data shows a notable decline in divorce rates over the two decades, with some fluctuations occurring in the early and mid-2000s. Overall, the trend indicates a steady decrease in the proportion of marriages ending in divorce in the United States from 2000 to 2022.

Despite public opinion that divorce is becoming more frequent in the United States, the divorce rate actually seems to be declining, with Nevada being the top state for divorce in 2022, with a rate of *** divorces per 1,000 of the population, followed by Oklahoma, Arkansas, Idaho, and Wyoming. Marriage and divorce in Nevada Nevada has one of the highest marriage rates in the country, and Las Vegas is a popular wedding destination. Nevada is one of the few states in the U.S. that allows couples to get a marriage license and get married immediately afterwards. In addition, Nevada is a no-fault divorce state, which means that couples do not need to address the reason behind the divorce. Divorced couples in the U.S. In recent years, the number of divorced individuals over age 50 in the U.S. seems to have surpassed the number of those who were under the age of 30, but whether the younger generation remains married longer than generations past is yet to be seen. Additionally, far more children of divorced parents lived with a female single parent, rather than a male single parent.

The graph displays the divorce rate per 1,000 people in the United States from 2000 to 2022. The x-axis represents the years, labeled from '00 to '22, while the y-axis indicates the divorce rate per 1,000 individuals. The divorce rate starts at 4.0 per 1,000 in 2000 and 2001, which are the highest values in the dataset. Over the years, there is a general downward trend, with the rate decreasing to 2.3 per 1,000 in 2020, the lowest point recorded. In 2021 and 2022, the rate slightly fluctuates, rising to 2.5 and then decreasing to 2.4 per 1,000 respectively. The data highlights a consistent decline in the divorce rate over the 22-year period.

In 2022, the marriage rate in the United States stood at *** per 1,000 people of the population. This is a decrease from 1990 levels, when the marriage rate was *** marriages per 1,000 people. Marriage Marriage is a union that can legally, culturally, and financially bind two people. Marriage occurs between all genders, races, and cultures, and is often drastically different all around the world, due to the diversity of cultures and religions. Marriage can be recognized by a state, religious authority, or an organization. Typically viewed as a contract, it brings people together through a multitude of avenues. A part of marriage is the wedding, for which couples can decide to partake in or not. Weddings are also incredibly diverse and vary in time, money, and customs. Marriage in the United States Marriage in the United States is viewed differently across all 50 states. The number of married couples in the United States has been steadily increasing since 1960. On the other hand, the divorce rate in the United States has decreased since 1990. Nevada was the state in 2021 that had the highest marriage rate in the United States, due to easy accessibility to get married there. In 2021, Nevada was also the state with the highest divorce rate in the country.

This file contains demographic data for divorces occurring in the United States during the 1986 calendar year. The data were taken from divorce certificates registered with the vital statistics offices of 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The certificates for each state were chosen at one of five sampling rates (5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 percent), depending on the total number of divorces occurring in the state during the year. Each record includes a weight factor based on the sampling fraction of the reporting state. The demographic data collected include age, race, education, and natality of divorcing parties, and the number of this divorce. Information about the divorce itself includes month, day, and week of the divorce.

This paper estimates the effects of unilateral divorce laws on divorce rates in the USA from a panel of state-level divorce rates. We use the interactive fixed-effects model to address the issue of endogeneity due to the association between cross-state unobserved heterogeneity and divorce law reforms. We document that earlier studies in the literature do not fully control for unobserved heterogeneity and result in mixed empirical evidence on the effects of divorce law reforms. While reconciling these conflicting results, our results suggest that divorce law reforms have temporal positive effects on divorce rates, thus confirming the 2006 findings of Wolfers. Via simulation experiments, we assess the degree to which faulty inclusion or faulty exclusion of interactive fixed effects affects the policy effect estimators. Our results suggest that faulty inclusion only results in efficiency loss whereas faulty exclusion causes bias.

In 2022, there were about ******* divorces conducted in the United States. This is a decrease from the previous year, when there were about ******* divorces conducted nationwide.

The divorce rate is represented by the number of registered divorces per 1,000 total population. Data is sourced from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2022, Nevada had the highest marriage rate in the United States, with **** marriages per 1,000 residents. Hawaii had the second-highest marriage rate, at **** marriages per 1,000 residents. The falling marriage rate Perhaps unsurprisingly, the marriage rate in the United States has fallen since 1990, although it has leveled off in the past decade. This means that fewer and fewer people are getting married than in years past, particularly as views about marriage have changed in the U.S. However, despite changing perceptions about marriage and a falling marriage rate, there were more married couples in the United States in 2021 than there were in 1960. First comes love, then comes marriage Weddings and marriage have changed in the United States recently as people have been staying single longer, and especially as gay marriage and interracial marriage have become more socially acceptable. The changing face of America means that love and relationships are changing as well, and what is socially acceptable within a relationship will continue to change with it.

SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES MARITAL STATUS - DP02 Universe - Population 15 Year and over Survey-Program - American Community Survey 5-year estimates Years - 2020, 2021, 2022 The marital status question is asked to determine the status of the person at the time of interview. Many government programs need accurate information on marital status, such as the number of married women in the labor force, elderly widowed individuals, or young single people who may establish homes of their own. The marital history data enables multiple agencies to more accurately measure the effects of federal and state policies and programs that focus on the well-being of families. Marital history data can provide estimates of marriage and divorce rates and duration, as well as flows into and out of marriage. This information is critical for more refined analyses of eligibility for program services and benefits, and of changes resulting from federal policies and programs.

In 2023, there were about 15.09 million children living with a single mother in the United States, and about 3.05 million children living with a single father. The number of children living with a single mother is down from its peak in 2012, and the number of children living with a single father is down from its peak in 2005.

Marriage and divorce in the United States

Despite popular opinion in the United States that “half of all marriages end in divorce,” the divorce rate in the U.S. has fallen significantly since 1992. The marriage rate, which has also been decreasing since the 1990s, was still higher than the divorce rate in 2021. Half of all marriages may not end in divorce, but it does seem that fewer people are choosing to get married in the first place.

New family structures

In addition to a falling marriage rate, fewer people in the U.S. have children under the age of 18 living in the house in comparison to 1970. Over the past decade, the share of families with children under 18, whether that be married couples or single parents, has stayed mostly steady, although the number of births in the U.S. has also fallen.

This study gathered data on policies and procedures for identifying domestic violence issues among divorcing couples and examined divorce mediation practices and policies in cases with allegations of spousal violence. Mediators and court administrators provided information on: (1) whether and how they attempted to gauge the level of domestic abuse and the capacity of divorcing parties to mediate, and (2) common adjustments to the mediation process made to enhance safety in divorce cases where domestic abuse is present. Data collection involved a collaboration with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) in the administration and analysis of this survey. Court programs providing divorce mediation and/or custody evaluations in 1993 were targeted. The questionnaire was mailed in late 1993 to 200 institutional members of the AFCC and active providers of family and divorce services in the National Center for State Courts database. A total of 149 public-sector divorce mediation and custody/visitation counseling providers responded. Variables include information on the rules, statutes, or guidelines under which the program operates, case handling procedures prior to mediation or custody/visitation evaluations, and procedures used when clients come to mediation. Information is also provided on the number of paid professional staff, number of custody/visitation mediations and evaluations completed, population of the jurisdiction, the program's relationship to the court, types of orientation programs for parents provided by the court, if the community had any supervised visitation services, and the city and state in which the program is located.

To examine the causes of marital instability throughout the life course, six waves of data were collected between 1980 and 2000 from married individuals who were between the ages of 18 and 55 in 1980. Information collected in 1980 (Wave I) focused on the effects of wives' participation in the labor force on marriage and marital instability. Measures predicting marital instability and divorce and assessing marital quality were developed. Variables include information on earnings, commitment to work, hours worked, and occupational status. The focus of Wave II, conducted in 1983, was to link changes in factors such as economic resources, wife's employment, presence of children, marital satisfaction, life goals, and health to actions intended to dissolve a marriage, such as divorce and permanent separation. Information on adjustment to marital dissolution, relationship with in-laws, size of home, parents' employment, use of free time, club membership, child-care arrangements, and responsibility for chores was gathered. Wave III, collected in 1988, further examined the impact of changes in employment, economics, and health on marital relationships. Questions were asked about divorce and remarriage, investment of energy and resource use in the care of aging parents and dependent offspring, asset value, awareness of aging, mental health issues, and history of disease. In 1992, Wave IV data were collected to look at changes in employment, economics, and health. Questions were asked about retirement issues, family structure, and the impact of caring for aging parents while at the same time caring for dependent offspring. Data were also collected in 1992 and 1994 from adult offspring who were living in the household in 1980 and had reached age 19 by 1992, thus providing parallel measures with their parents regarding the quality of parent-child relationships, attitudes, and support along with exploring the impact of childhood experiences on the transition to adult life. In 1997, the fifth wave was collected and interviews were conducted with a second sample of adult offspring (N=202) along with second interviews of offspring selected in 1992 (N=606). Wave V also examined the relationship between marital quality and stability and how it relates to changes in marital quality later in life. In 2000, Wave VI data were collected. Included with the adult panel was a panel obtained from the offspring who participated in 1992 or 1997, a replicate of the original cross-section study completed in 1980 (comprised of currently married persons between the ages of 19 and 55), along with a comparison sample made up of persons who were married in 1980 and were between 39 and 75 years old. The investigators examined whether there were changes in marital quality between 1980 and 2000, identified factors that might have accounted for these changes, and sought to determine their impact on the health and longevity of older persons. New questions included in Wave VI covered whether the respondent thought he/she had an organized lifestyle, alcohol and tobacco use, health problems, physical limitations, and mattering (the level of concern expressed for and received from spouse). Among the variables included in all six waves are age, sex, educational attainment, marital status and history, attitude toward divorce, number of children, religious affiliation, and income level. The Work and Family Life Study (ICPSR 26641) was conducted in 2000 as a follow-up to the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study. Included in the Work and Family Life Study is a new cross-section of 2,100 married people 55 years of age and younger. Additionally, the Work and Family Life Study contains a Comparison Sample comprised of 1,600 additional respondents. The purpose of this Comparison Sample is to assess potential bias due to sample attrition in the panel study.

Divorce records are often a valuable source of information for researchers, as they can provide sometimes difficult to find information like a couple's date of marriage, the names of children, and a woman's maiden name. They also allow a fascinating insight into the values and mores surrounding marriage at the time.

Connecticut began granting divorces in the mid-17th century, although only very, very sparingly at first. In the beginning only the General Assembly could grant a divorce; as the court system developed this eventually became mainly the purview of the superior courts, although the General Assembly continued to grant divorces until the early 20th century.

This index is a combination of several different indexes created by Connecticut State Library staff over a period of many years. It contains divorce records for the following counties and dates:

Fairfield: 1712-1941 Hartford: 1712-1953 Litchfield: 1751-1798, 1899-1927* Middlesex: 1786-1904 New Haven: 1712-1944 New London: 1712-1798* Tolland: 1786-1937 Windham: 1712-1798, 1907-1921* It also contains divorces granted by the General Assembly for 1655-1915.

Divorce records for Litchfield, New London, and Windham Counties that fall in years not included in this list can be found in two books compiled by Barbara B. Ferris and Grace Louise Knox in the 1980s, located in the History & Genealogy reading room:

• Connecticut divorces: Superior court records for the counties of New London, Tolland & Windham, 1719-1910
• Connecticut divorces: Superior Court records for the counties of Litchfield, 1752-1922 and Hartford, 1740-1849

Each entry in this list has a location of either a record or a file. Records are a brief summary of the case and the court's verdict that can be found in court record books. Files may have more information, such as the original divorce petition, statements from the litigants and witnesses, costs, and other material.

To request a digital of physical copy of a record or file, please contact the staff of the History & Genealogy Unit by telephone (860) 757-6580 or email. There may be a small fee, depending on the size of the order and whether you would like a digital or physical copy. When requesting a copy of a record or file, please include the information from the relevant entry in the index. You are also more than welcome to visit the Connecticut State Library to see these materials for yourself!

Note: Several volumes have extra, non-numbered pages at the end; these are denoted by a typographical mark and the word “misc.” *The February, 1769 term of the Superior Court in Fairfield is filed in a folder in the state archives RG 003, Superior Court Fairfield County Records/Dockets, Box 51. **Volume 19 contains miscellaneous papers at the end of the numbered pages. These papers are mostly in chronological order, and include court files, invoices, and the records of a few Superior Court terms. †Volume 21 contains miscellaneous papers at the end of the numbered pages. These papers are mostly in chronological order, and include court files and records for certain Superior Court terms. ††Volume 22 contains miscellaneous papers at the end of the numbered pages. These papers are mostly in chronological order, and include court files and records for certain Superior Court terms. ‡ Volume 28 contains miscellaneous papers at the end of the numbered pages. Some of these are a continuation of the August, 1793 session of the court at Litchfield.

Graph and download economic data for Total Separations: Total Nonfarm (JTSTSR) from Dec 2000 to May 2025 about separations, nonfarm, and USA.

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.

Although the American Community Survey (ACS) produces population, demographic and housing unit estimates, for 2020, the 2020 Census provides the official counts of the population and housing units for the nation, states, counties, cities, and towns. For 2016 to 2019, the Population Estimates Program provides estimates of the population for the nation, states, counties, cities, and towns and intercensal housing unit estimates for the nation, states, and counties..Supporting documentation on code lists, subject definitions, data accuracy, and statistical testing can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Technical Documentation section.Sample size and data quality measures (including coverage rates, allocation rates, and response rates) can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Methodology section..Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see ACS Technical Documentation). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables..Divorce estimates may vary from the divorce data released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) because of differences in methodology and data collection. NCHS uses information collected on divorce decrees from states providing them. From these administrative records, NCHS then publishes information about couples who divorced in a calendar year. In contrast, the ACS collects survey-based reports from individuals as to whether or not they divorced in the last 12 months. We recommend using caution when comparing the NCHS estimates to the ACS estimates of divorces..The 2016-2020 American Community Survey (ACS) data generally reflect the September 2018 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) delineations of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. In certain instances, the names, codes, and boundaries of the principal cities shown in ACS tables may differ from the OMB delineation lists due to differences in the effective dates of the geographic entities..Estimates of urban and rural populations, housing units, and characteristics reflect boundaries of urban areas defined based on Census 2010 data. As a result, data for urban and rural areas from the ACS do not necessarily reflect the results of ongoing urbanization..Explanation of Symbols:- The estimate could not be computed because there were an insufficient number of sample observations. For a ratio of medians estimate, one or both of the median estimates falls in the lowest interval or highest interval of an open-ended distribution.N The estimate or margin of error cannot be displayed because there were an insufficient number of sample cases in the selected geographic area. (X) The estimate or margin of error is not applicable or not available.median- The median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution (for example "2,500-")median+ The median falls in the highest interval of an open-ended distribution (for example "250,000+").** The margin of error could not be computed because there were an insufficient number of sample observations.*** The margin of error could not be computed because the median falls in the lowest interval or highest interval of an open-ended distribution.***** A margin of error is not appropriate because the corresponding estimate is controlled to an independent population or housing estimate. Effectively, the corresponding estimate has no sampling error and the margin of error may be treated as zero.

Although the American Community Survey (ACS) produces population, demographic and housing unit estimates, the decennial census is the official source of population totals for April 1st of each decennial year. In between censuses, the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program produces and disseminates the official estimates of the population for the nation, states, counties, cities, and towns and estimates of housing units and the group quarters population for states and counties..Information about the American Community Survey (ACS) can be found on the ACS website. Supporting documentation including code lists, subject definitions, data accuracy, and statistical testing, and a full list of ACS tables and table shells (without estimates) can be found on the Technical Documentation section of the ACS website.Sample size and data quality measures (including coverage rates, allocation rates, and response rates) can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Methodology section..Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.ACS data generally reflect the geographic boundaries of legal and statistical areas as of January 1 of the estimate year. For more information, see Geography Boundaries by Year..Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see ACS Technical Documentation). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables..Users must consider potential differences in geographic boundaries, questionnaire content or coding, or other methodological issues when comparing ACS data from different years. Statistically significant differences shown in ACS Comparison Profiles, or in data users' own analysis, may be the result of these differences and thus might not necessarily reflect changes to the social, economic, housing, or demographic characteristics being compared. For more information, see Comparing ACS Data..Divorce estimates may vary from the divorce data released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) because of differences in methodology and data collection. NCHS uses information collected on divorce decrees from states providing them. From these administrative records, NCHS then publishes information about couples who divorced in a calendar year. In contrast, the ACS collects survey-based reports from individuals as to whether or not they divorced in the last 12 months. We recommend using caution when comparing the NCHS estimates to the ACS estimates of divorces..Estimates of urban and rural populations, housing units, and characteristics reflect boundaries of urban areas defined based on 2020 Census data. As a result, data for urban and rural areas from the ACS do not necessarily reflect the results of ongoing urbanization..Explanation of Symbols:- The estimate could not be computed because there were an insufficient number of sample observations. For a ratio of medians estimate, one or both of the median estimates falls in the lowest interval or highest interval of an open-ended distribution. For a 5-year median estimate, the margin of error associated with a median was larger than the median itself.N The estimate or margin of error cannot be displayed because there were an insufficient number of sample cases in the selected geographic area. (X) The estimate or margin of error is not applicable or not available.median- The median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution (for example "2,500-")median+ The median falls in the highest interval of an open-ended distribution (for example "250,000+").** The margin of error could not be computed because there were an insufficient number of sample observations.*** The margin of error could not be computed because the median falls in the lowest interval or highest interval of an open-ended distribution.***** A margin of error is not appropriate because the corresponding estimate is controlled to an independent population or housing estimate. Effectively, the corresponding estimate has no sampling error and the margin of error may be treated as zero.