Marriage and Divorce Statistics

Comparison of Marriage and Divorce Statistics of the United States

Year	Number of marriages	Number of divorces
2000	2,315,000	944,000
2001	2,326,000	940,000
2002	2,290,000	955,000
2003	2,245,000	927,000
2004	2,279,000	879,000
2005	2,249,000	847,000
2006	2,193,000	872,000
2007	2,197,000	856,000

Year	Marriage rate per 1000 population	Divorce rate per 1000 population
2000	8.2	4.0
2001	8.2	4.0
2002	7.9	3.9
2003	7.7	3.8
2004	7.8	3.7
2005	7.6	3.6
2006	7.4	3.7
2007	7.3	3.6

Note: In some of the above figures, data for Louisiana, California, Minnesota, Indiana, Hawaii and Georgia are not included and hence the table represents approximate values.

Statewise Marriage and Divorce Statistics for the year 2007

The following table has been arranged in the ascending order of marriage rate.

State	Marriage Rate	Divorce Rate
New Jersey	5.4	3.0
Missisippi	5.4	4.5
connecticut	5.6	3.2
Pennsylvania	5.7	2.9
Wisconsin	5.7	2.9
Michigan	5.7	3.4
Delaware	5.7	3.7
New Mexico	5.7	4.3
Minnesota	5.8	no data
Massachusetts	5.9	2.3
Illinois	6.0	2.6
Ohio	6.2	3.4
Arizona	6.2	3.9
California	6.2	no data
Rhode Island	6.4	2.8
Washington	6.4	4.0
Maryland	6.5	3.0
Iowa	6.7	2.6
New York	6.7	2.9
North Dakota	6.7	3.0
Georgia	6.7	no data
Kansas	6.9	3.4
Nebraska	6.9	3.5
Missouri	6.9	3.8
colorado	7.0	4.4
Indiana	7.0	4.4
New Hampshire	7.1	3.8
Oregon	7.1	3.9
North Carolina	7.1	4.0
West Virginia	7.3	5.1
Oklahoma	7.3	5.2
Texas	7.4	3.3
Maine	7.5	4.3
Virginia	7.6	3.8
Montana	7.6	3.8
Louisiana	7.6	no data
South Dakota	7.7	3.1
South Carolina	7.9	3.0
Kentucky	7.9	4.7
Alaska	8.5	4.2
Florida	8.5	4.6
Vermont	8.6	3.6
Alabama	9.0	4.6
Wyoming	9.2	5.0
Utah	9.5	3.6
Idaho	10.0	4.9
Tennessee	10.1	4.3
Arkansas	12.1	5.9
Hawaii	21.3	no data
Nevada	49.3	6.5

Interrelationship between marriage and divorce

During the early years of marriage, marriages are most susceptible to divorce. Consider that in a given year, ‘m’ number of marriages have taken place. So, approximately 10 percent of ‘m’ may be expected to end in divorce after 5 years. Almost 20 percent of ‘m’ can be expected to end in divorce after 10 years. At the end of 18 years, about 30 percent of ‘m’ get divorced. When 50 years have passed by, nearly 40 percent of ‘m’ are in a divorced state.

Comparison of the sexes for the year 2001

Category	Percentage of men who have married	Percentage of women who have married	Percentage of men who have divorced	Percentage of women who have divorced
25 to 29 years	35.9	35.5	62.4	62.1
30 to 34 years	52.0	45.8	45.5	49.9
35 to 39 years	44.1	47.1	54.5	48.7
40 to 44 years	55.3	47.1	42.6	48.2
45 to 49 years	55.4	49.0	42.0	46.7
More than 50 years	58.4	41.0	36.8	43.5

Some of the other prominent observations in 2001 were –

• First marriages that ended in divorce lasted for 8 years, on an average
• Out of the total marriages which took place, 62 percent comprised of bridegrooms and brides who entered their first marriage

Divorce Papers