🌅 Today’s stat: 1.4%

SOURCE

Pew Research Center

WHAT TO KNOW

• The figure marks a record low since 2008—when the Census Bureau began collecting data on the number of people who report getting married or divorced in the previous 12 months—declining from a peak of 2% in 2012. Other data shows the nationwide marriage-divorce ratio climbed to 2.38 in 2023 (meaning almost 2.5 marriages for every one divorce), another record high since 2008.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Divorce rates have trended down since 2008, as millennials and Gen Xers have proven to be more selective than previous generations, often waiting until later in life to get married. At the same time, divorce rates among people 65 and older (so-called “gray divorces”) have tripled over the past three decades.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The marriage rate in the U.S. has declined dramatically over the past five decades, falling to a 50-year low in 2021, before returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and remaining stable since. The decline in divorce and slight uptick in marriage also coincided with a decrease in the percentage of U.S. adults who are unpartnered, the first decline in around 20 years (42% in 2023, down from 44% in 2019).