What is the evidence that half of marriages are ending in divorce?
Demographers are projecting the number of divorces in the future from the present trend. The comparison that has stood since 1973 is that there is one divorce for every two marriages. For a quarter century! For example, in the latest year with data, there were 2,244,000 marriages and 1,135,000 divorces. The odds are, those numbers will continue. Yet it is also true, as the Barna Poll reported, that only a quarter of Americans have ever been divorced. How is that possible? Clearly there are millions like me who married 30+ years ago, who have a small chance of divorce. When I was growing up I did not know any friends whose parents were divorced. Now more than half the kids in any classroom have had the experience. I am not the person to argue with about this, but the demographers, like Dr. Larry Bumpass at the University of Wisconsin who says that if separations are included, the divorce rate is 60%.
Demographers are projecting the number of divorces in the future from the present trend. The comparison that has stood since 1973 is that there is one divorce for every two marriages. For a quarter century! For example, in the latest year with data, there were 2,244,000 marriages and 1,135,000 divorces. The odds are, those numbers will continue. Yet it is also true, as the Barna Poll reported, that only a quarter of Americans have ever been divorced. How is that possible? Clearly there are millions like me who married 30+ years ago, who have a small chance of divorce. When I was growing up I did not know any friends whose parents were divorced. Now more than half the kids in any classroom have had the experience. I am not the person to argue with about this, but the demographers, like Dr. Larry Bumpass at the University of Wisconsin who says that if separations are included, the divorce rate is 60%. • How does the U.S. divorce rate compare to other nations? America’s divorce rate is do
