Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog

Google Searches Down for “Divorce”

There has never been a good way to track real-time divorce statistics, and on top of that, depending on what state you're in, the final separation can be months or years before the actual divorce becomes final. But the great innovator in divorce law practice, Lee Rosen of Raleigh, has noted one indicator that seems to be going down: Google searches for "divorce." And that meanwhile media mentions of divorce are going up -- maybe it's all those newspaper stories speculating about how the economy is making divorce either increase or decline.

Google Searches Down for “Divorce”.

LATEST U.S. DIVORCE RATE: Now lowest since 1970: 0.7% or 3.5 divorces per 1,000 people

National Vital Statistics Report Volume 57 Number 11.

This is for the "year" of July '07 through June '08. Continuing the general slow, steady downward trend.

2007 US divorce rate: 0.36%

Provisional divorce rates for calendar year 2007 were released July 14, in     Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for 2007,     NVSR Volume 56, Number 21. The number is a slight decline from 2006 but is stable overall, and is the same as the rate in 2005. It is an annual rate of 0.36 divorces (i.e., 0.72 people getting divorced) for every 100 people in the population. I.e., 0.72% of the entire US population gets divorced every year.

Six states were not included because they failed to report their data: California, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, and Minnesota.

The report also includes the total numbers of divorces in each state that reported. Official state-level divorce rates still are available only through 2004.

The report for 2007 is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_21.htm
For future reports on divorce rates, check the National Vital Statistics Reports at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.

 

Latest divorce rate steady at 0.36%

The annual per capita divorce rate for the 12 months ending in September, 2007 -- the latest figures currently available -- show an annual rate of 0.36 divorces (i.e., 0.72 people getting divorced) for every 100 people in the population. For the latest figures, check the National Vital Statistics Reports at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.htm.

An earlier month's report had showed a rate of 0.34% for the 12 months ending in June 2007, but the rate is now 0.36%, the same as the 2006 rate.

Official state-level divorce rates still are available only through 2004.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_14.pdf

US divorce rate falling again (or still); now 0.34%

The annual per capita divorce rate for the 12 months ending in June, 2007 -- the latest figures currently available -- show an annual rate of 0.34 divorces (i.e., 0.68 people getting divorced) for every 100 people in the population. For the latest figures, check the National Vital Statistics Reports at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.htm.

State-level divorce rates still are available only through 2004.

US divorce rate still at 0.36% for 2006, marriage down.

This is the first year I can remember that divorce rates have not fallen by a hundredth of a percent, but instead remained even. Marriage rates continued falling, by 3 hundredths of a percent in '06 compared with two hundredths in '05.
Details here.

Divorce up in autumn? Objection; Hearsay!

The end of summer brings an increase in divorce, or maybe in the initiation of separation, according to this UPI story: Lawyers: Divorce high at summer's end.

However, at least in the version of the story I saw, it is not based on any actual statistics or other objective information; it's just what two lawyers said when the reporter called them. I'm a divorce lawyer, but  if  there's any such pattern I've been too busy to notice.

- John Crouch

Latest US divorce rate: 0.36%

The latest U.S. annual per capita divorce rate is 0.36% -- stated as 3.6 divorces per 1,000 population -- for the 12 months ending in January 2007. See "Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for January 2007.     NVSR Volume 56, Number 1."

The latest U.S. annual per capita divorce rate for a calendar year is also 0.36% -- stated as 3.6 per 1,000 population --  for 2006. See "Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for 2006.     NVSR Volume 55, Number 20."

Since there are two spouses in every divorce, these numbers are more intuitively useful for some purposes if you double them. A 3.6 per thousand annual per capita rate means that Zero-point-72 percent of Americans get divorced every year.

For more information on the details of these statistics, read the explanatory notes in the pdf documents linked-to above; and for further information after that, contact NCHS at births@cdc.gov.
Warning: These rates are calculated without information from California, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, and Minnesota, which have failed to collect and/or report their divorce rates. The number of non-reporting states is up by two since 2004.

The NCHS seems to be posting their latest divorce and marriage rates at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm -- so you can check that site for the absolute latest.

Future releases in this annual volume the same monthly series of vital statistics reports will be displayed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/55/55-pre.htm

Future annual volumes of the monthly vital statistics reports will be displayed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.htm

The latest U.S. annual per capita divorce rate for a calendar year is also 0.36% -- stated as 3.6 per 1,000 population --  for 2006. See "Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for 2006.     NVSR Volume 55, Number 20."

Since there are two spouses in every divorce, these numbers are more intuitively useful for some purposes if you double them. A 3.6 per thousand annual per capita rate means that Zero-point-72 percent of Americans get divorced every year.

For more information on the details of these statistics, read the explanatory notes in the pdf documents linked-to above; and for further information after that, contact NCHS at births@cdc.gov.
Warning: These rates are calculated without information from California, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, and Minnesota, which have failed to collect and/or report their divorce rates. The number of non-reporting states is up by two since 2004.

The NCHS seems to be posting their latest divorce and marriage rates at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm -- so you can check that site for the absolute latest.

Future releases in this annual volume the same monthly series of vital statistics reports will be displayed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/55/55-pre.htm

Future annual volumes of the monthly vital statistics reports will be displayed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.htm

Divorce Rates Hit Lowest Level Since 1970

Link: Divorce Rates Hit Lowest Level Since 1970 - AP

The Demographics of Divorce-United States

Robert Hughes, Jr., Ph.D., The Demographics of Divorce -- United States and Missouri.

This clearly-written article explains what the different divorce rates do and don't mean, and suggests some less "newsy" but more substantial stats that indicate what the "true" divorce rate may be. It's an excellent demystification of divorce rates nationwide, but also contains a demographic overview of divorce in Missouri.