Divorce Statistics

Very often considered to be the last resort for getting rid of the woes associated with a troubled marriage, divorce has become much more common in the various parts of the world over the last few decades. These 'various parts of the world' include several countries from North America as well, with the United States in itself having a 40 percent divorce rate according to the divorce statistics of the world. Overall statistics on divorce presents a much more gruesome picture about this act, which was considered to be a social evil just a few decades ago.

Divorce Statistics of the World
An important term we need to understand when we talk about divorce statistics is divorce demography, i.e. the measure of divorce and marriage frequency. The divorce rates were compiled by comparing the number of divorces with the number of marriages for the particular year. Given below is a list of countries which have the highest divorce rate in the world.

Countrywise Divorce Rates in the World

Rank	Country	Divorce Rate (per 1000)
1	Gibraltar	5.5
2	Aruba	4.9
3	Russia	4.4
4	Isle of Man	4.3
5	Maldova	4.1
6	United States	3.6
7	Ukraine	3.6
8	Czech Republic	3.2
9	Belgium	3.2
10	Cuba	3.1

Asian countries - India and Sri Lanka feature the least number of divorces in the world, with the percentage of divorce being 1 and 1.5 respectively. It is believed that strict cultural norms and practices are responsible for low divorce rate, not just in these two countries, but all over south east Asia.

Divorce Statistics in the United States
In the United States, the divorce rate is 3.5 per 1000 people. The statistics of divorce in United States of America reveal that 40 percent of the marriages in the country end in divorce. The table given below gives a clear picture of the state wise divorce rates in America.

Statewise Divorce Rates in the United States

Rank	State	Divorce Rate (per 1000)
1	Nevada	7.7
2	Arkansas	6.0
3	Alaska	5.8
4	Oklahoma	5.6
5	Wyoming	5.3
6	West Virginia	5.1
7	Alabama	4.9
8	Idaho	4.9
9	Florida	4.6
10	Tennessee	4.6

Divorce rates in the United States, with figures of 4.7 in 1990, 4.2 in 2000, 3.7 in 2006, 3.6 in 2007 and 3.5 in 2008, are showing declining trend. This rate of 3.5 in 2008 is the lowest divorce rate since 1970. These statistics also reveal that 18 percent of the people get divorced within 5 years of marriage, while the same number increases to 48 percent, if a time frame of 15 years is taken into consideration. The divorce proceedings in the United States take a year for completion, and on an average most of the people wait for a period of around three years to remarry. The decline in the divorce rate in the United States, shown above, can be attributed to the decline in marriage rate.

This was a brief account of divorce statistics around the world, as well as in the United States of America. The figures representing the picture of indirect effect of divorce on the couple is as gruesome as the figures above. Statistics on divorce reveal that 40 percent of the families with a female as the head of the family are below the line of poverty. More importantly, divorced women with children are four times more likely to be under the poverty line then their married or single counterparts.