According to the UN, the country with the highest divorce rate in the world is the Maldives with 10.97 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year. This is followed by the Belarus with 4.63 and the United States wih 4.34.
The Maldives has the highest divorce rate in the world, with 5.52 divorces per 1,000 people per year.
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.
Australia divorce rates vs the world
The highest rate of divorce in the world is Russia with 4.8 per 1,000 people, while the lowest divorce rate is in Sri Lanka with 0.15 per 1,000 people. The divorce rate in Australia sits in the mid point of this range, with 1.9 per 1,000 residents.
However, Queensland has the highest crude divorce rate in the nation — a long-standing title, with the gap widening further. There were 2.6 divorces granted per 1,000 people in Queensland. That's followed by WA at 2.2 (the national average), and 2.1 in NSW and SA.
It is no surprise, then, that marital infidelity is a leading cause of divorce. Just how common is marital infidelity? According to a study from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, as many as 25 percent of married men and 15 percent of married women have had extramarital affairs.
If you're looking to make sure you've got a long and healthy marriage, Rome, Italy, is your best bet. The country has a divorce rate of only 30.7 percent (which is really impressive considering most country's hover around 50) and has an average length of 18 years.
Ethnicity is one of the notable predictors of divorce. For instance, Asian Americans have traditionally shown the lowest divorce rates of all other races. Currently, it's 12.4 divorces per 1,000 people, with at least one divorce for 18% of Asian American women and 16% of men.
According to the UN, the country with the highest divorce rate in the world is the Maldives with 10.97 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year. This is followed by the Belarus with 4.63 and the United States wih 4.34.
A UK judge ordered Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai to pay a $679 million divorce settlement to his ex-wife. Princess Haya had filed for divorce in London, known as "the divorce capital of the world."
The oldest codified law in the history of divorce was traced in 1760 B.C. during the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon. It is believed that the King carved 282 laws in stone tablets including the law on divorce.
According to the Economist, couples in Italy stay together longer than any other country evaluated. Istat dives into these numbers a little deeper, noting that the average marriage lasts 15 years up until separation or 18 up until divorce.
A 2015 study by the American Sociological Association revealed that women initiate 69 percent of all divorces in the U.S. Further, the same study found that college-educated women initiate divorce at an even higher rate of 90 percent.
In 2020, the median length from marriage to separation in Australia was 8.4 years. In the same year, the median duration of marriage to divorce was 12.1 years.
Recording Longest Marriages
The longest marriage recorded is an emerald wedding anniversary (90 years) between Karam and Kartari Chand, in the United Kingdom. Karam and Kartari Chand married in 1925 and died in 2016 and 2019 respectively. Guinness World Records published its first edition in 1955.
What is the average length of marriage? On average, the length of a marriage in the U.S. is seven to eight years. Some states have a higher rate than others, but the divorce rate for the country is around 50%.
While there are countless divorce studies with conflicting statistics, the data points to two periods during a marriage when divorces are most common: years 1 – 2 and years 5 – 8. Of those two high-risk periods, there are two years in particular that stand out as the most common years for divorce — years 7 and 8.
Divorce puts a strain on the financial, social, and emotional relationships of the partners. This time particularly can be devastating for women who may lose confidence, be forced into custody issues, and may lose hope of ever finding happiness again. Some women find it hard to return to their normal self again.
Child marriage among girls is most common in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and the 10 countries with the highest rates are found in these two regions. Niger has the highest overall prevalence of child marriage in the world. However, Bangladesh has the highest rate of marriage involving girls under age 15.