You hear people talk about divorce statistics in a lot of different ways. They may talk about your odds of getting divorced, for instance, or the idea that 50% of marriages end in divorce — which is a myth, for what it’s worth.
But these stats may not tell you everything you want to know about the prevalence of modern divorce, so let’s look at it a different way. In any given year, how many divorces happen in the United States?
The totals from the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that there were at least 746,971 divorces in 2019. The reason to note that this is a minimum is that, despite 746,971 being the total from the report, they did say that five states did not report their numbers, while 45 states and Washington D.C. did. There were obviously some divorces in these non-reporting states, but the CDC is unsure how many.
There are certainly more marriages than divorces, as the CDC claims there were 2,015,603 marriages that year. But it’s important to note that most of these are not the same couples, which is why you cannot use these stats to figure out a rate. A couple could certainly get married, make it through a calendar year, and then get divorced. They still count as a divorce when considering how many marriages end this way, but they’re not reflected in the same report.
Are you going to get divorced?
If you’re thinking of adding your name to these stats and getting divorced in 2021, it’s important to know about all necessary legal steps.