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.

In 2020, Latvia, Denmark, and Lithuania had the highest divorce rates among countries in the European Union, at 2.7 divorces per 1,000 population. By contrast, Malta had the lowest divorce rate at 0.5 divorces per 1,000 population.

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In 2023, Latvia, Cyprus, and Lithuania had the highest divorce rates among countries in the European Union, at 2.8 divorces per 1,000 population. By contrast, Ireland had the lowest divorce rate at 0.7 divorces per 1,000 population.

As of 2023, Slovenia had the lowest divorce rate in the world, with only one divorce per 1,000 population. Croatia and Farie Island followed with 1.1 and 1.2 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively. On the other hand, West Bank & the Gaza Strip had the highest marriage rate in the world that year.

MIP21 - European Divorce Rates. Published by Eurostat. Available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0).European Divorce Rates...

Germany, France, Italy, and Spain registered the highest number of divorces in the EU in 2023. With a total of 142,751 divorces, Germany led the ranking.

The crude divorce rate is the ratio of the number of divorces during the year to the average population in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 persons.

As of 2023, 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 2023. 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.

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.

Analysis of ‘Gross Divorce rate by province. IDB (API identifier: 25212)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/88u/dataset/urn-ine-es-tabla-t3-38-25212 on 19 January 2022.

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Table of INEBase Gross Divorce rate by province. Annual. Provinces. Basic Demographic Indicators

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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.

Analysis of ‘Divorce rates according to sex and nationality (Spanish/foreign). IDB (API identifier: 25197)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/88u/dataset/urn-ine-es-tabla-t3-38-25197 on 19 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Table of INEBase Divorce rates according to sex and nationality (Spanish/foreign). Annual. Basic Demographic Indicators

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

In 2020, the number of divorces in France was of 57,437. France had a divorce rate of 55 per 100 marriages in 2020. A number which was not one of the highest in Europe but that emphasizes the fact that in recent years, divorce is a phenomenon with a significant impact on Western countries. The characteristics of French divorces Despite a record number of 152,020 separations in 2005, the number of divorces in France remained stable since the mid-2000s and has also been declining by a rate of 8 percent between 2004 and 2014. Since then, the number of divorces remained almost the same in the country, even though an decrease has been seen between 2016 and 2017. In 2019, the majority of divorces in France were pronounced by mutual consent. Most of divorces pronounced in France concerned marriages which lasted between 4 years and 7 years. Unions in France The number of marriages in France is decreasing since 2004 and reached 220,000 in 2021, compared to 236,826 ten years before. Same-sex marriage was legalized in France since 2013, but civil partnerships are the type of unions that increased in recent years. More than 205,000 civil partnerships were contracted in 2010 in France. Implemented in 1999, civil unions in France are established between two individuals regardless of gender.

In 2022, the divorce rate for all Benelux countries was very similar; in the Netherlands it was **** percent, compared to *** percent in Belgium and *** percent in Luxembourg. For all countries, the divorce rate had been steadily increasing from 1950 to 1970, before fluctuating significantly in the years afterwards.

The global divorce services market is experiencing significant growth, driven by rising divorce rates, increased awareness of mental health, and the growing accessibility of online therapy and counseling platforms. The market, segmented by application (male and female) and type of service (divorce counseling, evaluation, and others), shows strong potential for expansion. While precise figures for market size and CAGR are not provided, a reasonable estimation based on industry reports and growth trends in related sectors suggests a market valued in the billions, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 8-10% between 2025 and 2033. This growth is propelled by several key factors, including increased societal acceptance of divorce, higher levels of stress and relationship conflict in modern life, and the increasing affordability and convenience of online divorce support resources. The convenience and anonymity offered by online platforms like ReGain, BetterHelp, and Calmerry are significantly contributing to market expansion, especially among younger demographics. The market's regional distribution reflects global trends in divorce rates and economic development. North America and Europe currently hold the largest market shares, due to higher disposable incomes and established mental healthcare infrastructure. However, rapid growth is anticipated in Asia-Pacific regions driven by increasing urbanization, changing social norms, and rising awareness around mental well-being. Restraints to market growth include the stigma associated with divorce in some cultures, the lack of access to affordable services in developing countries, and concerns regarding data privacy and security in online platforms. The ongoing evolution of technology and the integration of artificial intelligence within mental health platforms are likely to further shape the market landscape, offering personalized and efficient services. Future growth will be determined by the expansion of affordable, accessible, and culturally sensitive services across diverse regions.

In 2023, the divorce rate in Germany lay at about 35.74 percent. The highest divorce rate at almost 52 percent was recorded in 2005. Since then, divorce rates have ranged between 30 and 50 percent. The divorce rate compares the number of marriages with the number of divorces in the same period under review. Accordingly, the divorce rate does not provide any information about the ‘divorce risk’ of a particular marriage cohort, as the divorces do not relate to a marriage year.

Table of INEBase Divorce Rates by Autonomous Community, according to sex, age group and nationality (Spanish/foreigner) (since 2011). Annual. Autonomous Communities and Cities. Basic Demographic Indicators

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.