Recently, the Pew Research Center released an analysis of data on marriage and divorce across America and some of the findings are fascinating. We thought our readers would enjoy seeing some of the highlights of the study. If you want to see the complete survey along with a link to a state by state map just click here. Idaho and Washington, DC are like the statistical bookends of America’s marriage picture as of 2009.
Read on, and find out how.
Serial spouses. Across the United States, five percent of people who have ever been married have been married three times or more. The percentage of thrice-married is highest in Arkansas, at ten percent. It is lowest in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, at just two percent.
Politics. States with higher shares of Democratic votes in the 2008 presidential election tended to have lower shares of currently married residents, lower shares of adults married at least three times and low rates of newly formed marriages within the previous year
Currently married. The state with the highest share of people who are currently married is Idaho, where 58 percent of men and 56 percent of women currently have a spouse. The District of Columbia has the lowest current marriage rate, at just 28 percent of men and 23 percent of women.
Age at first marriage. These states also represent the extremes for age at first marriage. Residents of Idaho get married the youngest, with the median age at a man’s first marriage of 25 and at a woman’s first marriage, 24. The median age at first marriage in the District of Columbia, by contrast, is 32 for men and 30 for women. Divorcees. Men in New York and New Jersey and women in North Dakota are least likely to be currently divorced. Just seven percent of male residents of the first two states are currently divorced, compared with a national average of ten percent for men. In North Dakota, eight percent of women are divorced, compared with a national average of 12 percent for women. Can you guess which state has the highest share of currently divorced men and women? Nevada, with 13 percent of men and 16 percent of women currently divorced.
Divorce rates. The divorce rate — measured as the number of divorces within the previous 12 months per 1,000 women — tends to be higher in states where women marry young, as in Oklahoma and Idaho. We suppose you could have guessed that. Twenty something marriages always have the highest rate of failure.
Young and thrice-married. States with larger shares of the thrice-married also tend to be states where people marry young, like Arkansas and Oklahoma. The big exception is Utah, where people marry young but are less likely to be married three times or more.
Education and income. Higher education levels are correlated with an older age at first marriage, and lower likelihood of being married three or more times. In states with lower income levels, men are more likely to have been married three or more times.
Religion. Pew Research Center did not find a strong correlation between a state’s religiosity — that is, the percentage of people who said religion was “very important” in their lives — and marriage or divorce patterns. This surprised us to some extent, but hey, it’s a big country and when it comes to marriage and divorce there are more stories than most of us could ever imagine.
i have been married to same woman for 50 years we married at him 20 her 17