While recent reports have indicated that the U.S. divorce rate is currently at its lowest level since 1970, some experts have questioned the assertion that relationships are in better conditions nowadays as compared to years past. An Associated Press story from last week detailed that there are approximately 3.6 divorces per every 1,000 people in the United States, and how some experts have contributed this decline to the fact that more people are living together without getting married. Other researchers have noticed a “divorce divide” in which the divorce rate has actually fallen among college-educated couples but has stayed the same for less-affluent and less-educated couples.

The divorce rate in the United States reached its peak in 1981 when there were 5.3 divorces per every 1,000 people. The story noted that America’s divorce rate began to increase in the 1960s before skyrocketing in the next two decades as most states adopted no-fault divorce laws. The current U.S. divorce rate is the lowest in 37 years.

Experts have linked the decline in the U.S. divorce rate to several factors, especially the fact that the number of people living together without being married has increased tenfold since 1960. Other interesting things to consider include the fact that the U.S. marriage rate has dropped by nearly 30 percent in the last 25 years and that Americans are waiting longer to get married than as in the past. Specifically, people are getting married about five years later as compared to 1970.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 10:36 am and is filed under Divorce Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.