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A look at America’s falling divorce rate

On Behalf of | Jul 14, 2015 | Divorce |

Most people in Illinois have heard claims over several decades at how as many as half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. That 50 percent number has been used so many times for so long that it is easy to understand why people simply accept it as true. However, a report published in the New York Times suggests that the 50 percent divorce rate in America is anything but true today.

According to the article, the U.S. divorce rate peaked in 1979. In 1981 there were reportedly 5.3 divorced people for every 1,000 people in the country. By 2011, that number was as low as 3.6. An American Community Survey has further indicated that the nation’s rate of divorce has dropped 11 percent since 2008. For some, this means fewer retirement plans to split in complex asset division agreements, a reduced need to separate marital property from separate property and more.

An article on Today.com suggested that there could be many factors influencing the declining divorce rate in our nation. Among these is that a greater number of low-income couples are choosing to live together without getting married. Simultaneously, it is put forward that higher earning couples are less likely to end their marriages in what would be a high asset divorce.

Many of these people who make higher wages or salaries also choose to hold off getting married until later ages than their less wealthy counterparts. This could lead to more stability overall in a marriage. The story also noted that there may well be fewer babies conceived by accident due to improved birth control, situations that sometimes perpetuated marriages that ultimately failed.

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