Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 5, Chart 1

Indicator 5. Marriage and Divorce Ratios

Marriage and divorce ratios in 8 countries: 1990 and 1992

SOURCE: Statistical Office of the European Communities, Demographic Statistics, 1988, 1990, and 1994; and various national sources. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, various years. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, various years. Demographic Yearbook, United Nations 1960-1992.

Despite a decline in marriage rates (see indicator 3), the United States still has substantially higher marriage ratios than other developed nations. Between 1980 and 1992, marriage ratios in only 3 out of 11 other industrialized nations showed larger declines than those in the United States. Most of the other countries showed either minor declines or increases in the marriage ratios.

The United States also has a much higher divorce ratio than other developed countries, although the figure declined between 1980 and 1990. Since 1980, divorce ratios in some other countries have risen and the gap between their figures and that of the United States has narrowed slightly.