Quick facts about the overall divorce rate
and the Christian divorce rate

Is the current divorce rate in the U.S. really 50%?

Actually, it's more likely somewhere between 40% and 50%.  The 50% figure we always hear is based on faulty logic.  This logic goes something like this:  "In one year, there were 2.4 million marriages and 1.2 million divorces.  Therefore, the divorce rate is 50%."  The problem is that someone has grossly oversimplified the math in figuring the divorce rate.  As Scott Stanley from the University of Denver explains, the 40-50% divorce rate number "comes from detailed analyses of various population demographics, including ages, divorce rates by ages, lifespan projections, etc. It represents a sophisticated projection."  So, while different researches vary to certain degrees, it seems credible to view the current U.S. divorce rate as 40-50%.

 

Is the divorce rate different for second marriages?

In a 2001 report, the CDC stated that 1/5 of first marriages end within five years; 1/3 within ten years.  Second marriages fare even worse.  The CDC found "a strong probability that second marriages will end in separation or divorce: 23 percent after five years and 39 percent after ten years.”

 

Is the Christian divorce rate any different?

Like the overall divorce rate, the question of where the Christian divorce rate stands is a complex issue.  Complicating factors include how to define "Christian"; the religious stigma associated with divorce; and whether we're talking about legal marriages or common-law relationships.  For a fuller explanation of studies and statistics regarding the Christian divorce rate, see the summary at the religioustolerance.org website (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm).

 

Is there any good news about the divorce rate?

Actually, yes.  Researchers agree that the overall divorce rate peaked around 1980 and appears to have declined modestly since then.  Divorce rates per 1,000 marriages were 22.6 in 1980, 20.9 in 1990, and 18.8 in 2000. (Source:  National Marriage Project, State of Our Unions, 2005)

 

What can be done to lower the divorce rate?

That's one of the main questions that we at eHarmony Marriage began with.  We sincerely believe that we are contributing to the declining divorce rate—both the overall divorce rate and the Christian divorce rate—by helping couples communicate better, deepen their intimacy, have better sex, and trust each other more. 

Let's face it:  A 40-50% divorce rate is an epidemic.  It therefore makes sense that we, as a society, would try to address this issue that so clearly affects so many men, women, and children.  (For instance, did you know that the majority of children raised outside of marriage experience poverty? And as many as one-third of divorced women slip below the poverty level after divorce.  [Source:  Bradford Wilcox et al, 2005, Why Marriage Matters: 26 Conclusions from the Social Sciences, NY: Institute for American Values]) 

At eHarmony Marriage, it's our goal to represent one of the trends that meaningfully and significantly alters the current divorce rate--both the overall divorce rate and the Christian divorce rate--by helping strengthen and deepen marriages.

 

Additional Resources:
http://www.healthfinder.gov/orgs/HR2417.htm
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/
http://marriage.rutgers.edu
http://marriageandfamilies.byu.edu/