Relationships July 10, 2017
Although, the sad truth is that not all marriages end in "happily ever after."
Let’s face it. The sad truth is, that in society, marriage really never imitates the fairytales. Divorce and separation are common.
Divorce rates differ depending on where you are. Russia, the Maldives and Latvia have some of the highest divorce rates, according to The Telegraph. America is also pretty high up there, with the divorce rate being somewhere between 40 to 50 percent according to The American Physcological Association.
These divorce rates also differ by state. Alaska has one of the higher divorce rates, with every 14/1000 people getting divorced.
However, this has been changing surprisingly enough – in some good ways, and in some bad ways. So let’s go over what’s been making the divorce rate in America fluctuate over the past couple years.
Millennials are constantly blamed for many of the problems the world faces. However, they can’t be blamed for adding to the divorce rate. In fact, they’re doing the exact opposite.
In recent years, millennials have been shying away from the notion that marriage is a necessity. Not only has the way millennials date changed due to dating apps and the internet, but to be quite frank, were broke.
Student debt is at an all-time high and well-paying jobs in a field we can actually work in are hard to come by. “When asked for the reasons that they have not gotten married, 29 percent say they are not financially prepared, while 26 percent say that they have not found someone who has the qualities they are looking for in a partner. An additional 26 percent say that they are too young and not ready to settle down,” a Pew Research Center report stated.
Although we will always have that friend, cousin or ex who got married young, on average millennials are getting married at older ages. “In 1963, the typical American woman married at 21 years of age and the typical man wed at 23. By 2014, those figures climbed to ages 27 for women and 29 for men,” the Pew study also reported.
Even though millennials will always be blamed for something, we’re proud they’re doing something right.
Even though the overall divorce rate in America is getting lower each year, certain age groups are being affected more than others. This has been seen with the recent divorce trend, “gray divorce.”
“Even while declining overall, the divorce rate is actually on the rise among people over 50 years of age. The phenomenon is so common it has its own name — and the “gray divorce” rate actually doubled between 1990 and 2010,” according to Forbes.
Gray divorce can happen for a number of reasons. Boredom, becoming an empty nester, money problems and many other factors contribute to this rise in divorce rates for those 50+. Or, these relationships could have always been flawed, but it’s taken years of struggle for something to actually be done about it.
So even though millennials are doing a good job about keeping the divorce rate down, our older generations are raising it.
We all know that education is important to get a good-paying job. However, your education can now effect your success in marriage.
“The least (no high school diploma or GED) and the highest (college degree) educated women share the lowest rate of first divorce, with 14.4 and 14.2 per 1,000, respectively,” reports Science Daily.
However, we all know that money can contribute to problems in a marriage. We suggest you go for that degree and stand with that number of women with the highest level of education.
Even though the divorce rate in America is pretty high, other countries face even higher divorce rates. European countries tend to have higher divorce rates than the US.
“Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, and Hungary are worse off with divorce rates higher than 60 percent,” writes Business Insider.
The highest divorce rate around comes from Belgium, with a 70 percent divorce rate. “Sociologists attribute rising divorce rates to Belgians increasing separation from the rules of the Catholic Church, which for decades prevented divorce and helped keep Belgium a very married country,” The Bulletin explains.
Chile has one of the lower divorce rates, seeing as “There was no provision for divorce, so Chileans became famous for the novel ways they got out of or ignored unhappy marriages,” states The New York Times. However, this changed in 2005 when divorce was legalized.
Marriage can be tough. And it may not work out every time. But don’t let these divorce rates discourage you. If you have someone special in your life who you care about, marriage may be for you.
Or… maybe not. But you can still be committed to your partner without a piece of paper telling you so. If you want to learn more about divorce in America, then read about America’s enthusiasm for both marriage and divorce.
