Divorce demography

Divorce demography is the study of the demographic factors that impact divorce as a social phenomenon.

Methodology

Sources

Information about divorces can generally be obtained from the census data published by governmental statistics offices.

Indicators

Crude divorce rate

One measure of divorces is the crude divorce rate, which is the number of divorces per 1,000 population.^[1] It can give a general overview of marriage in an area, but it does not take people who cannot marry into account. For example, it would include young children who are clearly not of marriageable age in its sample. A related measure is the refined divorce rate which measures the number of divorces per 1,000 women married to men, so that non-married persons, e.g. young children are left out of the rate.^[1]

Divorce to marriage ratio

Another one measure of divorces is the divorce to marriage ratio, which is the number of divorces to the number of marriages in a given year (the ratio of the crude divorce rate to the crude marriage rate).^[1] For example, if there are 550 divorces and 1,000 marriages in a given year in a given area, the ratio would be one divorce for every two marriages, e.g. a ratio of 0.55 (55%). However, this measurement compares two unlike populations, those who can marry and those who can divorce.

Say there exists a community with 100,000 married couples, and very few people capable of marriage, for reasons such as age. If 1,000 people obtain divorces and 1,000 people get married in the same year, the ratio is one divorce for every marriage, which may lead people to think that the community's relationships are extremely unstable, despite the number of married people not changing. This is also true in reverse: a community with very many people of marriageable age may have 10,000 marriages and 1,000 divorces, leading people to believe that it has very stable relationships.

Furthermore, these two rates are not directly comparable since the marriage rate only examines the current year, while the divorce rate examines the outcomes of marriages for many previous years. This does not equate to the proportion of marriages in a given single-year cohort that will ultimately end in divorce.

Longitudinal study

Another solution is to conduct a longitudinal study of married batches to assess the divorce rate.

Divorce statistics by country

Country	Crude marriage rate	Crude divorce rate	% Divorce:marriage ratio	Data Source Year
Albania	8.9	1.7	19	(2011)[2][3]
Algeria	10.1	1.5	15	(2013)[4]
Armenia	6.0	1.0	17	(2011)[2][3]
Australia	5.4	2.3	43	(2010)[2][3]
Austria	4.5	2.1	47	(2010)[5]
Azerbaijan	9.7	1.2	12	(2011)[2][3]
Bahamas	6.1	0.3	5	(2007)[2][3]
Belarus	9.2	4.1	45	(2011)[2][3]
Belgium	4.2	3.0	71	(2010)[5]
Bermuda	10.6	2.7	25	(2009)[2][3]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.1	0.4	8	(2010)[2][3]
Brazil	6.6	1.4	21	(2009)[6]
Bulgaria	3.2	1.5	47	(2010)[5]
Canada	4.4	2.1	48	(2008)[2][3]
Chile	3.3	0.1	3	(2009)[2][3]
China	9.3	2.0	22	(2010)[2][3]
Colombia	2.3	0.2	9	(2007)[7]
Costa Rica	5.3	2.5	47	(2010)[2][3]
Croatia	4.8	1.1	23	(2010)[5]
Cuba	5.2	2.9	56	(2010)[2][3]
Cyprus	7.9	2.2	28	(2009)[5]
Czech Republic	4.4	2.9	66	(2010)[5]
Denmark	5.6	2.6	46	(2010)[5]
Dominican Republic	4.4	1.8	41	(2010)[2][3]
Ecuador	5.6	1.1	20	(2006)[7]
Egypt	11.0	1.9	17	(2010)[2][3]
El Salvador	3.5	0.8	23	(2006)[7]
Estonia	3.8	2.2	58	(2010)[5]
European Union	4.5	2.0	44	(2010)[5]
Finland	5.6	2.5	45	(2010)[5]
France	3.8	2.1	55	(2010)[5]
Georgia	6.9	1.3	19	(2011)[2][3]
Germany	4.7	2.3	49	(2010)[5]
Gibraltar	6.7	3.2	48	(2010)[2][3]
Grenada	5.0	1.1	22	(2001)[7]
Greece	4.8	1.2	25	(2008)[2][3]
Guatemala	3.8	0.2	5	(2008)[2][3]
Hungary	3.6	2.4	67	(2010)[5]
Iceland	4.9	1.8	37	(2010)[5]
Iran	9.2	2	22	(2014)[2][3]
Ireland	4.6	0.6	13	(2013)[8][9]
Israel	6.5	1.8	28	(2009)[10]
Italy	3.6	0.9	25	(2010)[5]
Jamaica	7.5	0.7	9	(2011)[2][3]
Japan	5.5	2.0	36	(2010)[2][3]
Jordan	10.2	2.6	25	(2010)[2][3]
Kazakhstan	8.6	2.3	27	(2008)[2][3]
Kuwait	5.2	2.2	42	(2010)[2][3]
Kyrgyzstan	9.7	1.6	16	(2010)[2][3]
Latvia	4.2	2.2	52	(2010)[5]
Lebanon	9.5	1.6	17	(2007)[2][3]
Libya	6.0	0.3	5	(2002)[7]
Liechtenstein	5.0	2.4	48	(2010)[5]
Lithuania	5.7	3.0	53	(2010)[5]
Luxembourg	3.5	2.1	60	(2010)[5]
Mauritius	8.2	1.4	17	(2010)[2][3]
Mexico	5.2	0.8	15	(2009)[2][3]
Moldova	7.3	3.1	42	(2011)[2][3]
Mongolia	3.4	1.1	32	(2010)[2][3]
Montenegro	5.7	0.8	14	(2011)[2][3]
Netherlands	4.4	1.9	43	(2009)[5]
New Zealand	4.8	2.0	42	(2008)[2][3]
Nicaragua	4.5	0.8	18	(2005)[7]
Norway	4.8	2.1	44	(2010)[5]
Panama	3.7	1.0	27	(2010)[2][3]
Poland	6.0	1.6	27	(2010)[5]
Portugal	3.7	2.5	68	(2010)[5]
Qatar	3.3	1.1	33	(2011)[2][3]
Republic of Macedonia	7.2	0.8	11	(2011)[2][3]
Romania	5.4	1.5	28	(2010)[5]
Russia	9.2	4.8	51	(2011)[2][3]
Saint Lucia	2.8	0.7	25	(2004)[7]
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5.8	0.8	14	(2007)[2][3]
San Marino	6.1	2.5	41	(2011)[2][3]
Saudi Arabia	5.2	1.1	21	(2005)[7]
Serbia	4.9	1.1	22	(2011)[2][3]
Seychelles	17.4	1.9	11	(2011)[2][3]
Singapore	6.8	1.9	28	(2015)[11]
Slovakia	4.7	2.2	47	(2010)[5]
Slovenia	3.2	1.2	38	(2010)[5]
South Africa	3.5	0.6	17	(2009)[6]
South Korea	6.4	2.3	36	(2013)[12]
Spain	3.6	2.2	61	(2010)[5]
Sri Lanka		0.15		[13]
Suriname	4.2	1.3	31	(2007)[2][3]
Sweden	5.3	2.5	47	(2010)[5]
Switzerland	5.5	2.8	51	(2010)[5]
Syria	10.6	1.0	9	(2006)[7]
Tajikistan	13.5	0.8	6	(2009)[2][3]
Thailand	5.5	1.4	25	(2005)[7]
Tonga	7.1	1.0	14	(2003)[7]
Trinidad and Tobago	6.3	2.2	35	(2005)[7][14]
Turkey	8.0	1.6	20	(2011)[2][3]
Ukraine	6.7	2.8	42	(2010)[2][3]
United Kingdom	4.3	2.0	47	(2009)[5]
United States	6.8	3.6	53	(2011)[15]
Uruguay	3.2			(2010)[2]
Uzbekistan	7.8	0.6	8	(2006)[16][17]
Venezuela	3.3	0.9	27	(2006)[2]
Vietnam	5.7	0.2	4	(2007)[2][3]

References

1. England, J. Lynn; Kunz, Phillip R. (February 1975), "The Application of Age-Specific Rates to Divorce", Journal of Marriage and the Family (Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 37, No. 1) 37 (1): 40–46, doi:10.2307/351029, JSTOR 351029
2. "Marriages and crude marriage rates" (PDF). United Nations Statistical Division (UNSTAT) 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
3. "Divorces and crude divorce rates" (PDF). United Nations Statistical Division (UNSTAT) 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
4. "Office National des statistiques - Démographie Algérienne 2014" (PDF). Office National des Statistiques (ONS) 2013.
5. "Marriage and divorce statistics". Eurostat 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
6. BRICS Joint Statistical Publication 2012, Chapter 3: Population (PDF). 2012. p. 18.
7. "World Marriage Data 2008". United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2009). Retrieved 19 January 2013.
8. "State has third lowest divorce rate globally despite fears". http://www.irishexaminer.com/. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 17 May 2015. External link in |website= (help)
9. "Number of Births, Deaths and Marriages". www.cso.ie. Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
10. 2014 divorce and marriage rate in Iran in Farsi
11. SINGAPORE SOCIAL STATISTICS IN BRIEF 2015 (PDF). Ministry of Social and Family Development. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
12. http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0006874392
13. "UNICEF:Sri Lanka Statistics".
14. United Nations Statistical Division (UNSTAT) 2010
15. NVSS National Marriage and Divorce Rate Trends
16. "Gender: average marriage rate 2000-2006". UNDP CO in Uzbekistan, 2013.
17. "Gender: average divorce rate 2000-2006". UNDP CO in Uzbekistan, 2013.