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Divorce Rate

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Divorce Rates by Country 2023

Marriage is a sacrament that bonds two people together for life, creating a legal, cultural, and/or religious connection between them that impacts everything from their name and address to their future family. Marriage is a cultural universal, an institution so fundamental to the human experience that there are no known examples of a society that functions without it. People marry for many reasons, including love, companionship, the desire to build a family, financial stability, social status, and religious fulfillment, and in nearly every case the marriage is considered a watershed event in the participants’ lives.

Divorce and its causes

Sometimes, however, the bonds of marriage break. According to the United States' National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 4-5 million people get married every year in the U.S. ... and approximately 42-53% of those marriages eventually end in divorce.

Divorce has many possible causes, including infidelity, financial problems, loss of intimacy, substance abuse, domestic abuse, lack of commitment, moral or religious differences, and simply growing apart. Whatever the reason, divorce is not a uniquely American scenario. Divorce happens all over the world—in fact, it may be every bit as universal as marriage itself.

How to calculate divorce rate

Divorce rates can be calculated multiple ways, but one of the simplest methods utilizes census data. Dividing the number of divorces in a given year by total population yields the crude divorce rate. This metric is typically expressed as a number per 1000 people. For example, if 100,000 people lived in a nation and there were 500 divorces in a year, the divorce rate would be five divorces per 1,000 residents.

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Divorce Rates (annually, per 1000 people)*

*Data is most recent available per country. 2018-China; 2019-Cuba; all others 2020-21

Country
Divorce Rate 🔽
Maldives5.52
Kazakhstan4.60
Russia3.90
Belgium3.70
Belarus3.70
Moldova3.30
China3.20
Cuba2.90
Ukraine2.88
United States2.70

According to data from the United Nations and other sources, the country with the highest divorce rate in the world in 2020 was the Maldives, which recorded 2984 divorces against a population of 540,544, resulting in a divorce rate of 5.52 per 1000 people. This is actually a notable step down from the country's widely publicized rate of 10.97 in 2002, which earned the country a Guinness World Record.

Why are divorces so frequent in the Maldives? One common explanation is that the island nation's citizens frown upon physical relations outside of marriage, but both marriages and divorces are quite easy to obtain, so they marry quickly and divorce with minimal complication if the relationship fails. What's more, a cultural shift is currently taking place in the Maldives, with women becoming more empowered and more able to fend for themselves financially, enabling them to leave marriages that aren't working.

The former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan endured the second-highest divorce rate in the world in 2020, with 4.6 divorces for every 1000 people. Close behind are Russia (3.9), Belgium (3.7), and Belarus (3.7). The United States lands in a four-way tie for spots 9-12 on the list, with an annual divorce rate of 2.7 per 1000 people. In the U.S., Nevada has the highest divorce rate of any state at 14%.

The effect of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic on divorce rates

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 had a remarkable impact on nearly every aspect of everyday life, including rates of marriage and divorce. Overall, marriage rates dropped significantly in 2020, largely due to pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions on public gatherings. What's more, divorce rates also dropped significantly, from .2 to .4 points in most cases, in nearly every country in the world.

For example, Slovenia's divorce rate dropped from 1.2 in 2019 to .8 in 2020. Similarly, Hungary dropped from 1.8 to 1.5, Seychelles went from 1.9 to 1.7, and the Dominican Republic plummeted from 2.5 to 1.2. Oddly, Denmark, considered one of the top 10 countries to live in, reversed the trend and saw its divorce rate leap from 1.8 to 2.7 during the 2020 pandemic.

Top 10 Countries with the Lowest Divorce Rates (annually, per 1000 people)*

*Data is most recent available per country, typically between 2017-2020.

On the other side of the coin, several nations have quite low divorce rates. Based upon available data, the country with the lowest divorce rate in the world is Sri Lanka, with a divorce rate of 0.15 divorces per 1,000 residents. Vietnam and Guatemala have the next lowest rate at 0.2 divorces per every 1,000 residents. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Peru, and South Africa rank 4th through 6th, then a nine-way tie at .70/1000 creates a logjam that soaks up spots 7-15.

It should be noted that a low divorce rate does not necessarily mean that a country's citizens have blissful, thriving marriages. In some countries, divorces may be more difficult to legally obtain, or wives may be unable to leave a bad marriage because they fear for their safety, or for their children's safety, or because they lack the financial wherewithal (or societal opportunity) to support the family on their own. In fact, if one takes the top 6 countries with the lowest divorce rates and tracks their scores on the United Nations' 2019 Gender Inequality Index (GII), they rank as follows:

Gender Inequality Index (GNI) of top 6 countries with the lowest divorce rates (out of 162 countries, lower GNI is better):

  • Sri Lanka - .401 (90th place)
  • Guatemala - .479 (119th place)
  • Vietnam - .296 (65th place)
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - not rated
  • Peru - .395 (87th place)
  • South Africa - .406 (93rd place)

By comparison, all but three of the top 13 countries with the highest divorce rates placed within the top 50 in terms of gender equality. In light of these data, it is important to resist drawing conclusions about married life in a given country based upon its divorce rate alone.

Divorce rate and its connection to marriage rate

In fact, divorce rate on its own cannot even give a clear idea of how frequent divorces are in a given country. This is because the divorce rate is a measure of divorces as a percentage of the total population, not in relation to the total number of marriages. Why does this matter? Because the United States' 2019's rate of 2.7 new divorces per 1000 people would be quite impressive if all 1000 of those people were married, but shockingly worrisome if only 50 out of 1000 were married. For that reason, divorce rates are often viewed alongside a country's overall marriage rate. They may even be combined to produce a rough marriage/divorce ratio or percentage.

For example, if one matches the United States' 2019's rate of 2.7 new divorces per 1000 people to the number of marriages that took place in 2019—6.1 per 1000 people—it works out to one new divorce for every 2.26 new marriages, a divorce percentage of just over 44%. These are arguably more insightful and relatable numbers than "2.7 divorces per 1000 people." Of course, even this calculation is not entirely precise—divorce rates should ideally be compared to the marriage rates from the year each dissolving marriage was initially created, not the current year. However, it is nonetheless a useful (and much easier to compute) ballpark estimate for times when more granular data is unavailable.

Download Table Data

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Country
Divorce Rate (per 1k)
Year of Data
Maldives5.522020
Kazakhstan4.602021
Russia3.902020
Belgium3.702020
Belarus3.702020
Moldova3.302020
China3.202018
Cuba2.902019
Ukraine2.882020
United States2.702020
Denmark2.702020
Lithuania2.702020
Latvia2.702020
Cyprus2.602019
Liechtenstein2.602020
San Marino2.602017
Sweden2.502019
Libya2.502008
Finland2.402019
Egypt2.302019
Taiwan2.302018
Costa Rica2.302020
Luxembourg2.302020
Iran2.102019
South Korea2.102020
Canada2.102008
Saudi Arabia2.102020
Georgia2.102020
Albania2.102019
Czech Republic2.002020
Portugal2.002018
Switzerland2.002016
Trinidad and Tobago2.002016
France1.902016
Spain1.902019
Australia1.902019
Norway1.902019
Estonia1.902020
Bermuda1.902019
Malaysia1.802019
Greece1.802017
Israel1.802019
Iceland1.802010
Japan1.702019
Germany1.702020
United Kingdom1.702017
Poland1.702019
Netherlands1.702019
Austria1.702020
Singapore1.702020
Slovakia1.702019
New Zealand1.702019
Seychelles1.702020
Monaco1.702020
Turkey1.602020
Algeria1.602013
Romania1.602019
Jordan1.602020
Lebanon1.602007
Mauritius1.602020
Hungary1.502020
Croatia1.502019
Brazil1.402009
Thailand1.402005
Italy1.402019
Azerbaijan1.402020
Tajikistan1.402019
Kyrgyzstan1.402020
Suriname1.402019
Brunei1.402020
Mexico1.302019
Syria1.302006
Serbia1.302020
Bulgaria1.302020
Kuwait1.302020
Montenegro1.302020
Dominican Republic1.202020
Jamaica1.202018
Tonga1.202003
Ecuador1.102006
Armenia1.102020
Grenada1.102001
Mongolia1.002020
Bahamas1.002007
Dominica1.002017
Uruguay0.902019
Uzbekistan0.802020
Nicaragua0.802005
El Salvador0.802006
Bosnia and Herzegovina0.802019
Slovenia0.802020
North Macedonia0.802020
Colombia0.702007
Venezuela0.702017
Chile0.702009
United Arab Emirates0.702005
Ireland0.702017
Panama0.702020
Qatar0.702019
Malta0.702019
Saint Lucia0.702004
South Africa0.602009
Peru0.502019
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines0.402017
Vietnam0.202020
Guatemala0.202020
Sri Lanka0.15--
World2.30
showing: 107 rows

Which country has the highest divorce rate?

The Maldives Islands have the highest divorce rate in the world.

Are divorce rates in the US amongst the highest in the world?

The US is tied for the 13th-highest divorce rate in the world, so its divorce rate is higher than most other countries.

Which country has the lowest divorce rate?

Sri Lanka has the lowest divorce rate in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources