People > Divorce rate: Countries Compared

In response to Missys:<br>The divorce rate in Spain is 0.6 for every 1,000 people which amounts to 10.9% of all marriages ending in divorce. This rate is significantly lower than that of most other Western European countries. <br>Factors which influence the divorce rate in Spain include:<ul><li><strong>The legal process</strong> required in order to obtain a divorce. In Spain this process involves legal separation during which the case for separation must be presented before a judge, a waiting period of at least one year after legal separation has been granted, reconcilliation attempts must be made and grounds for divorce must also be established. These legal processes are currently under review.</li><li>T<strong>he <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_cat_as_per>Catholic Church</a></strong>. 94% of Spainiards are members of the Catholic church which opposes divorce. </li><li><strong>Social Attitudes.</strong> Since divorce in Spain was legalised in 1981 the divorce rate has increased, however the social stigma of divorce still affects many people. </li><li><strong>Marriage rat</strong>e - The <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_mar_rat>marriage rate</a> in Spain has declined from seven marriages per 1000 population in 1981 to 4.9 per 1000 today. This rate is lower than most European countries. As fewer people are getting married (Many are opting for a single life or common-law marriage) fewer divorces will result.</li></ul>

In response to <em>Liseanaga</em>:

<p>Divorce affects families and society in a number of ways. Every family and every divorce is different. The effects of divorce on children can range from mild to severe and from short-term to long-term.</p>

Effects of divorce on children and the family concerned include:
<ul>
<li>Health, behavioral, learning and emotional problems (either arising from the divorce or aggravated by it)</li>
<li>Financial problems (including child support payments which are not made and child support payments made to a previous partner) </li>
<li>Loss of family (including extended family)</li>
<li>New family members (step-parents, step-brothers and sisters)</li>
<li>Child abuse (this is more common in stepfamilies</li>
<li>Crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and suicide (all are more common among children of divorced parents.</li>
<li>Higher school drop-out rates.</li>
<li>Religious worship often decreases or stops after the parents divorce.</li>
</ul>

<p>As families are part of society, anything which affects a significant proportion of families will also affect society as a whole. In addition to this, costs associated with the effects of divorce such as <a href=/graph/eco_soc_sec_exp_as_of_gdp>social security</a>, legal assistance (for custody, property and child support issues) and additional childcare are subsidised by the tax-payers in most developed nations.</p>

obviously one can not assume divorce rate somehow is parallel with how happy couples are in the relationships. for instance in sri lanka or india divorce rates are very low. but they also favor arranged marriages as well. the higher the divorce rate in country the more females are acknowledged there as humans and have more rights. because country like armenia for example has low divorce rates, but if you know many armenians you know that its almost impossible to get divorced for a woman due to family pressure and also men tend to cheat a lot on their wives. so divorce rates are really not the factor to decide whether couples are happier in one country or the other.

The true story is divorce per 100 marriages here http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_div_per_100_mar-people-divorces-per-100-marriages

Divorce is very hard on the entire family unit. Every family member pays the price in terms of learning from the role model of the adult parent i.e. sons / dads ... mothers / daughters and the worse of it ... learning how to love and receive love i.e girls nurtured by their dads.
The family unit is vital for any nation and when the family unit is under attack everyone pays the price. It is vital that children have 2 parents participating in their individual lives, from both, an emotional and pyschological perspective.

I am now an adult, but as a child from a divorced family, I can only say that it was the best thing to happen for myself and my siblings. Our home became peaceful, we knew what to expect when we came home from school, we could actually sleep at night and our mother was able to give us self-confidence, self-worth,and all the love we wanted. Even tho the divorce put us into total poverty, I thank her every day for the courage it took for her to do this for us!

Where is Hungary?! Hungary has the highest divorce rate in Europe. Hungary`s divorce rate is 50%, that means that every second Hungarian couple divorce.

Divorce is a horrible thing to many people and it makes people's life to be dragged backward instead of going forward. I think something should be done to the instution of marriages bearing in mind that it is the industry of human beings.There should be proper pre-marital counseling and post marital counseling.We should have as many marriage counselors as we have today in countries. Mary

This is why I can’t be bothered with serious relationships because when you are faced with divorce statistics like this, I believe there is far too much to lose than gain in the future.
Society is more selfish than ever before.

Divorce is quite at its highest level throughout the world. the best solution will be; to honor your spouse and to appreciate the positive qualities which one has. People who have grown up in divorced families have a very high probability of experiencing divorce in their own families. Some of what people call rights is disrights to real life. Let us go back to biblical principles and the Lord will help us.

It appears to me that Americans are the happier lot. They divorce to end the pain and start life anew.
In countries where divorce rate is low, PERHAPS, the suffer in silence and live miserable lives.

American women grow up in a bubble of entitlement, reinforced by romcoms and Disney and their unrealistic brand of love. They live in this sort of fantasy world where there is no such thing as compromise, and they are all stunningly attractive. The media makes women actually believe in a sort of Mr Right character who will do everything perfectly, and jump from relationship to relationship, marriage to marriage until nobody wants them anymore. Then they will shake their fists at the sky and wonder how it all went wrong. Don't get frustrated, women, I could write an equally long post about men.

Some can forcefully argue that the divorce rate is also a function of the ease at which divorce can be executed. In that case, it is not surprising that the U.S. is #1. Of course, there is also the social stigma aspect of divorce which used to be (rightfully) very strong in the U.S. as well.

Agree also that the rate of marriages has dropped in many countries (i.e. Europe), so it is not surprising that divorce rates also reflect that trend as well.

To summarize, one has to know the story behind the data to fully understand the issue.

Ian, I am totally convinced with your idea that we must take into consideration the percentage of divorce on total number of marriages but saying that countries who have more marriages have higher number of divorce rate....no no no...you will be surprised...i think countries who have more marriages, their people have more orientation towards having a family and surprisingly they have less number of divorce rate. Specially in under developed countries or developing countries, people have stronger family values than developed countries and they stick together for life. check this out:

http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml

The <a hrefhttp://www.divorceguide.com/free-divorce-advice/marriage-and-separation-advice/divorce-rates-in-america-and-other-western-countries.html>divorce statistics</a> clearly shows that divorce is rampant in many countries. Obviously, US got the highest divorce rate. With the rampant divorce trend, it’s quite rare to find couples who’ve reached the maturity of their marriages. It’s more likely possible to divorced couples who have had 3-4 years of marriage. Today, divorce is granted for about 60 days, and spouses can claim for mind-boggling spousal and child support.

According to <a href="http://www.divorceguide.com/free-divorce-advice/marriage-and-separation-advice/divorce-rates-in-america-and-other-western-countries.html">divorce statistics</a>, one out of five marriages lasts for 50 years and 50% of marriage ends in divorce. Obviously, US got the highest divorce rate. With the rampant divorce trend, it’s quite rare to find couples who’ve reached the maturity of their marriages. Today, divorce is granted for about 60 days, and spouses can claim for mind-boggling spousal and child support.

According to statistics, one out of five marriages lasts for 50 years and 50% of marriage ends in divorce. Obviously, US got the highest divorce rate. With the rampant divorce trend, it’s quite rare to find couples who’ve reached the maturity of their marriages. It’s more likely possible to divorced couples who have had 3-4 years of marriage. Today, divorce can be easily served for about 60 days, and spouses can claim for mind-boggling spousal and child support.

The propensity of divorce comes from the change in gender roles. Today, most modern wives tend to work outside their homes compared to the traditional wives. Women who spend most their time for work and other outside activities commonly missed their “motherly” roles. Bad thing about it is that it brings serious ,a href=http://www.divorceguide.com/free-divorce-advice/children-and-divorce/what-effect-does-a-divorce-have-on-a-child.html>effect of divorce on children</a> and contributes to the breakdown of families.

According to statistics, one out of five marriages lasts for 50 years. Obviously, US got the highest divorce rate. With the rampant divorce trend, it’s quite rare to find couples who’ve reached the maturity of their marriages. It’s more likely possible to divorced couples who have had 3-4 years of marriage. Today, divorce can be easily served for about 60 days, and spouses can claim for mind-boggling spousal and child support.

The propensity of divorce comes from the change in gender roles. Today, most modern wives tend to work outside their homes compared to the traditional wives. Women who spend most their time for work and other outside activities commonly missed their “motherly” roles. bad thing about divorce is that it gives serious <a href="http://www.divorceguide.com/free-divorce-advice/children-and-divorce/what-effect-does-a-divorce-have-on-a-child.html">effects of divorce on children</a> and causes the breakdon of family.

The divorce rate per 1000 people doesn’t tell the whole story about the prevalence of divorce in a country. Countries with more marriages will usually also have higher numbers of divorced people. <p>To get an idea of how many marriages end in divorce, take a look at the number of divorces per 100 marriages, where Belgium tops the list at 59.8 divorces for every 100 marriages. <p>Only six countries are in the top 20 of both divorces per 1000 people and divorces per 100 marriages.<p>The United States and Russia are first and third, respectively, for divorce rates per 1000 people. But they are first and second in the number or marriages per 1000 people per year, and don’t appear in the top 20 of divorces per 1000 marriages.