Divorce demography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Divorce demography is the measurement of the frequency of marriage and divorce. It is most commonly measured in three different ways: the current marriage to current divorce ratio, the crude divorce rate, and the refined divorce rate.[1]

The current marriage to current divorce ratio measures the divorce rate by comparing the number of marriages to the number of divorces in a given year.[1] For example, if there are 500 divorces and 1,000 marriages in a given year in a given area, the ratio would be one divorce for every two marriages. However, this measurement compares two unlike populations. Say there exists a community with 100,000 married couples, and very few people capable of marriage, for reasons such as age. If 1,000 people obtain divorces and 1,000 people get married in the same year, the ratio is one divorce for every marriage, which may lead people to think that the community's relationships are extremely unstable, despite the number of married people not changing. This is also true in reverse: a community with very many people of marriageable age may have 10,000 marriages and 1,000 divorces, leading people to believe that it has very stable relationships.

The crude divorce rate is the number of divorces per 1,000 population.[1] It can give a general overview of marriage in an area, but it does not take people who cannot marry into account. For example, it would include young children who are clearly not of marriageable age in its sample. The refined divorce rate measures the number of divorces per 1,000 married women, and is the better of the three measurement methods.[1] One obvious flaw is it does not take same-sex marriage into account. Additionally, it is insensitive to age as a factor. This is troublesome because marriages between younger people are more likely to dissolve.

Country Marriage:divorce ratio Crude divorce rate Refined divorce rate
Flag of Albania Albania 0.95 (2004)[2]
Flag of Armenia Armenia 0.61 (2004)[2]
Flag of Aruba Aruba 4.99 (2004)[2]
Flag of Australia Australia 2.67 (2003)[2]
Flag of Austria Austria 2.40 (2004)[2]
Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 0.83 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Bahamas Bahamas 1.66 (2000)[2]
Flag of Belarus Belarus 2.97 (2004)[2]
Flag of Belgium Belgium 3.02 (2003)[2]
Flag of Belize Belize 0.17 (2002)[2]
Flag of Bermuda Bermuda 2.97 (2003)[2]
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.39 (2004)[2]
Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 1.53 (2003)[2]
Flag of Canada Canada 2.24 (2003)[2]
Flag of the People's Republic of China China 1.28 (2004)[2]
Flag of Croatia Croatia 1.12 (2004)[2]
Flag of Cuba Cuba 3.17 (2004)[2]
Flag of Cyprus Cyprus 2.19 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic 3.24 (2004)[2]
Flag of Denmark Denmark 2.92 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic 0.96 (2001)[2]
Flag of El Salvador El Salvador 0.64 (2003)[2]
Flag of Estonia Estonia 2.94 (2003)[2]
Flag of Finland Finland 2.53 (2004)[2]
Flag of France France 2.09 (2003)[2]
Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia 0.42 (2004)[2]
Flag of Germany Germany 2.59 (2004)[2]
Flag of Gibraltar Gibraltar 5.57 (2002)[2]
Flag of Grenada Grenada 1.13 (2001)[2]
Flag of Greece Greece 0.87 (2001)[2]
Flag of Guadeloupe Guadeloupe 2.09 (2001)[2]
Flag of Guernsey Guernsey 2.86 (2000)[2]
Flag of Hungary Hungary 2.44 (2004)[2]
Flag of Iceland Iceland 1.84 (2003)[2]
Flag of Iran Iran 0.94 (2004)[2]
Flag of Ireland Ireland 0.83 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Isle of Man Isle of Man 4.36 (2003)[2]
Flag of Israel Israel 1.67 (2002)[2]
Flag of Italy Italy 0.73 (2003)[2]
Flag of Jamaica Jamaica 0.67 (2004)[2]
Flag of Japan Japan 2.12 (2004)[2]
Flag of Jordan Jordan 1.83 (2004)[2]
Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 2.10 (2004)[2]
Flag of Kuwait Kuwait 2.05 (2004)[2]
Flag of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan 1.04 (2004)[2]
Flag of Latvia Latvia 2.28 (2004)[2]
Flag of Libya Libya 0.32 (2002)[2]
Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 2.47 (2003)[2]
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania 3.20 (2004)[2]
Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg 2.33 (2004)[2]
Flag of Macau Macau 1.04 (2004)[2]
Flag of Martinique Martinique 1.17 (2001)[2]
Flag of Mauritius Mauritius 0.97 (2003)[2]
Flag of Mexico Mexico 0.62 (2003)[2]
Flag of Moldova Moldova 4.14 (2004)[2]
Flag of Mongolia Mongolia 0.35 (2003)[2]
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 1.91 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles 2.80 (2004)[2]
Flag of New Caledonia New Caledonia 1.12 (2003)[2]
Flag of New Zealand New Zealand 2.61 (2004)[2]
Flag of Norway Norway 2.41 (2004)[2]
Palestinian flag Palestine 1.09 (2004)[2]
Flag of Panama Panama 0.88 (2003)[2]
Flag of Poland Poland 1.48 (2004)[2]
Flag of Portugal Portugal 2.22 (2004)[2]
Flag of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 3.67 (2003)[2]
Flag of Qatar Qatar 1.04 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Republic of Macedonia 0.81 (2004)[2]
Flag of Réunion Réunion 1.10 (2003)[2]
Flag of Romania Romania 1.52 (2003)[2]
Flag of Russia Russia 4.42 (2004)[2]
Flag of Saint Lucia Saint Lucia 0.70 (2004)[2]
Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0.43 (2002)[2]
Flag of San Marino San Marino 2.11 (2004)[2]
Flag of Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro 1.11 (2004)[2]
Flag of the Seychelles Seychelles 1.52 (2003)[2]
Flag of Singapore Singapore 0.78 (2004)[2]
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 2.02 (2004)[2]
Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 1.21 (2004)[2]
Flag of South Korea South Korea 2.90 (2004)[2]
Flag of Spain Spain 0.75 (2003)[2]
Flag of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
Flag of Sweden Sweden 2.24 (2004)[2]
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 2.43 (2004)[2]
Flag of Tajikistan Tajikistan 0.36 (2002)[2]
Flag of Tonga Tonga 1.08 (2002)[2]
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago 1.23 (2002)[2]
Flag of Turkey Turkey
Flag of the Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands 2.20 (2002)[2]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine 3.66 (2004)[2]
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom 2.80 (2003)[2]
Flag of the United States United States 3.6[3]
Flag of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan 0.63 (2001)[2]
Flag of Vietnam Vietnam 0.50 (2002)[2]

[edit] References