Despite Media Attention on Divorce, US Divorce Rate Actually Dropping

If you pay attention to the media these days, you will no doubt be bombarded by messages that marriages in the US are not working out. News of celebrity divorces, reality shows designed to catch people cheating and websites promoting dating outside of marriage seem to be everywhere. The conventional wisdom is that half of all marriages end in divorce. That’s actually not true; sixty-five percent of first marriages make it ten years or more, and in recent years that number has jumped to eighty percent. The fact is that the divorce rate has actually been dropping for the last thirty years.

During the divorce boom of the 1970s, many longed for the “simpler times” of the 1950s. Currently the number of children of divorce has now dropped to near 1950 numbers, and the divorce rate is the lowest it has been since 1970. Experts point to the fact that the unexpected increase in women working outside the home combined with a proliferation of no-fault divorce laws helped bump the divorce rate to all time highs in the 1970s, but the population has adjusted to those societal changes. Also, couples are now waiting longer to get married, meaning they are more mature and realistic when making a lifetime commitment to another person. Read more about the dropping US divorce rate at U.S. divorce rates returning to idyllic 1950s levels.

If you are considering divorce, please contact our Jacksonville, Florida area law firm for family law counsel.

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