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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The mean age at first marriage in Spain was, along with Sweden, one of the highest in the European Union. Based on this setup, it is no wonder that the Spanish autonomous communities featured quite elevated numbers - particularly in the Canary Islands, where the average age at first marriage stood at over 41 years old for men and over ** for women in 2023. Easy come easy go Marriage might be undergoing a declining popularity among Spaniards, or so it would seem by its national (heterosexual) marriage figures, which have experienced a slight decrease overtime. In 2023, the Balearic Islands recording the highest numbers on the list of marriage rate in Spain, with a rate of **** marriages per 1,000 people. Moreover, Spain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe, with **** divorces per 100 marriages carried out in this country in 2020. Ageing: a common problem across the continent The age at first marriage is not the only digit that is on the rise in Spain. Data related to age in the Mediterranean country essentially behaves in a similar fashion as the rest of its European counterparts, whose population is also slowly but surely getting older. In 2023, the life expectancy at birth in Spain stood at ***** years, one of the highest in the world.

This statistic depicts global views on premarital sex in 2013. In Indonesia, 97 percent of residents believe that premarital sex among adults is morally unacceptable. Sex before marriage Nine out of ten people in Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey believed that engaging in sex before marriage was not acceptable. The majority of the Europeans found premarital sex to be morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world totaling over 209 million people. In some religions, like Catholicism and Islam, having sex before marriage is considered morally unacceptable. Other predominantly religious countries such as Jordan and Pakistan also have similar rates of this belief.In the United States, 29 percent of people consider the act of having sex before marriage as morally wrong while 20 percent believe that getting a divorce is also morally unacceptable . Abstinence-only sex education is not uncommon in the United States where states can apply for federal funding for these programs. Abstinence-only programs try to prevent teens or all unmarried individuals from having any sexual activity. Critics state that these programs often include negative messages about sexuality, gender roles, and may also try to minimize the effectiveness of birth control. Some 13 percent of teenage students desire more information about contraceptive use . Education about contraception and safe sex can help prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

This statistic shows the moral stance of Americans regarding sexual intercourse between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman as of 2018. During the survey, 69 percent of respondents stated that they think sex between unmarried partners is morally acceptable.

The moral acceptance of social issues in the US

More than two thirds of respondents to a survey in the United States responded that they believe that sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable, while one third believed that it is morally wrong and only 1 percent stated that it is not a moral issue. Unsurprisingly, when posing the same question to respondents of the Mormon faith, a significantly higher percentage stated they believed that premarital sex is morally wrong.

Regarding other morally acceptable or unacceptable actions, divorce had an acceptance rate of 71 percent among the American population, and the use of birth control was deemed acceptable – remarkably higher than the acceptance rates for premarital sex.

In the United States, the likelihood of divorce after the first marriage is at about 41 percent, and proportionally higher the more times one gets hitched; and it is increasingly more accepted than it has been in the past. Interestingly, the 2015 results for premarital sex acceptance in the United States are quite different from the results of a similar survey back in 2013, conducted globally, in which 36 percent of respondents in the United States said that premarital sex is not a moral issue, only 29 percent responded that it was acceptable and 30 percent stated it was unacceptable. The country with the least acceptance was Pakistan, where no one responded that premarital sex was acceptable. This is not surprising when taking into account that Pakistan is an Islamic Republic. In contrast, Czechia had the highest acceptance rates, a country with one of the largest atheist populations worldwide.