<Sorry about Kiwiland, Mq. Here in the States, in spite of rumors to the contrary, marriage is alive and well.>
I know marriage is still very popular in the USA. Heck, Elizabeth Taylor was married 7 times.
Google, of course, had some statistics. Apparently about 40% of marriages end in divorce in the USA. For example: divorcereform.org <2. RAW NUMBERS. The Center has released total state and regional marriage and divorce numbers (not the same thing as rates) for the years 2000, 1999 and 1998.
The total numbers of U.S. divorces (excluding the non-counting states) reported finalized annually are 957,200 in 2000, 944,317 in 1999, and 947,384 in 1998.
The total numbers of U.S. marriages (including those states) reported celebrated annually are 2,355,005 in 2000, 2,366,623 in 1999, and 2,267,854 in 1998.
Chart of all states and regions from this report.
3. PROJECTION/PREDICTION. This is the Census Bureau's often-cited "50%" rate, the proportion of marriages taking place right now that will eventually divorce, which has since been revised downward to roughly 43% by the National Center for Health Statistics but was moved back up to around 50% by the Census Bureau in 2002, with even more ifs ands and buts than usual. Most recently, according to the New York Times, it has been revised downward to just over 40%. >
And it seems that in fact some children in the USA are afflicted by marital disharmony to the extent of divorce: <One million children in America are involved in a new divorce annually, as
of 1997, according to divorcemagazine.com, and The Children's Fund reports
that one in three American children is born to unmarried parents (2004 Key
Facts About American Children). >
Not that if people aren't married, then they don't get divorced, so those children [1 in 3] of unmarried people will find themselves without one of the parents soon enough.
<"Since the introduction of "no-fault divorce" in Canada 30 years ago, the
rate of marital break-up has soared 600%. A third of marriages fail, and
over a third of those break-ups involve children. One-fifth of Canadian
children have lost a parent to divorce, with an effect that some
sociologists now say can be "worse than a parent's death." Divorce is
consistently associated with juvenile emotional disorders, crime,
suicide, promiscuity and later marital break-up."
From "The push for 'high-octane' marriages: An American state rolls back the divorce revolution by re-establishing life-long covenants.
By Tim Rotheisler. Alberta Report, August 4, 1997
albertareport.com
"Ten percent of children of divorce will go on to witness three or more family breakups."
Peterson, "Marital Disruption," 5. Cited on page76 ofThe Abolition of Marriage, by Maggie Gallagher >
and not much more than half of people are married at any one time: <"Marriage has declined as the central institution under which households
are organized and children are raised,'' Smith said, noting the survey
found that 62 percent of working-class adults reported being married in
the 1994-98 period, down from 80 percent in the 1972-77 period. >
Marriage in New Zealand is "alive and well" too Lazarus [in the same way that you seem to mean]. Which is stretching the expression somewhat. The statistics look much like in the USA: stats.govt.nz
Mqurice |
