Read Harry’s November newsletter here
Divorce down to 1970 levels
At last a genuine good news story.
Using data we commissioned from the Office for National statistics, our latest report tells you everything you ever wanted to know about divorce rates, a surprisingly complicated subject
- In the first 5 years of marriage, actual divorce rates are down 48% from their peak in the 1980s and 1990s
- In the first 10 years of marriage, actual divorce rates are down 24%
- After ten years of marriage, divorce rates become highly predictable
- We predict the lifetime divorce risk for couples marrying today is 35%, down from 44% among couples who married in 1986 (most of those have already happened of course)
- Almost all of the change is due to fewer wife-granted divorces in the first decade of marriage
- This is most likely because, with less social pressure to marry, those men who do marry today are more committed
- So much for ‘toxic masculinity’. Within marriage, women and men are getting on better than for many years
- We also explain how the apparent rise in divorce in 2021 is almost certainly a short-term ‘blip’ due to faster processing of a backlog
Thank you so much as ever to our supporters. If you can help us champion marriage, click here
Harry Benson
Research Director, Marriage Foundation