The U.S.'s per capita divorce rate was 2.3 per thousand in 2020 and 2.5 per thousand in 2021, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports. (That's how far behind the reporting of these numbers typically runs -- about 18 months.)
2.3 is the lowest per capita rate since 1964 -- also lower than the rate from 1942 to 1953.
2021's 2.5 is the same per capita rate as in 1965 and 1966, and the lowest rate since then except for 2020.
These are per capita rates, i.e., compared to the entire population of all ages, whether married or not. These rates make more sense if you double them, because there are two people in every divorce. So "2.5 per 1,000" means 0.5% of us got divorced in 2021.
This all was computed without any information from California, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, or New Mexico; those states did not count their divorces for 2017 through 2021.
See also:
- 144 years of marriage and divorce in 1 chart, by Randy Olson
- Divorce Rates by State: 1990, 1995, and 1999-2021
- Chart of the per capita rates and absolute numbers of U.S. Marriages and Divorces, 1900-2012.
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