Statistics on Marriage and Divorce in America:
The rate of divorce today is over 50%. Based solely on national statistics, chances are you will get divorced or find yourself unhappily married and unfulfilled.
41% of first marriages end in divorce.
60% of second marriages end in divorce.
73% of third marriages end in divorce.
35% of married couples claim they are not fulfilled.
There has been a 50% decline in marriages for adult women since 1950.
Single parent households have become the norm.
At least 25% of children under 12 experience parental divorce.
Over 40% of children are raised without their fathers.
Marriage has a 95% national success rate in raising well-adjusted, self-reliant, service providing, taxpaying citizens.
Note: A child who becomes a well-adjusted self-reliant adult and who contributes a service and revenue (by way of tax dollars) is an “asset to society.”
Single parent households have less than a 90% success rate in raising “assets to society.” Stated another way, single parent households have a greater than 10% chance of raising one or more “liabilities to society.”
Note: A child who grows up and becomes dependent on society for his or her basic needs and who does not contribute in some meaningful way is a “liability to society.”
Note: The statistics on success, happiness, and being sorry, unfulfilled or troubled are questionable because the criteria with which they are measured are subjective. Even statistics on marriage and divorce vary from source to source. Although we site our references below, do not become lost in a battle over whose statistics are more correct. What matters is there are trends, and the trends are negative.
Analysis
Combining the divorce statistic (>50%) with unhappy marriages (>33%), we arrive at the following inescapable conclusions relative to marriage, personal fulfillment and raising well-adjusted children.
Newly married couples have less than a 1 in 3 chance of remaining married and being fulfilled long term.
There is an undeniable relationship between family structure and the performance of children as adults. Although we want the freedom to choose to be married or become divorced, society suffers when children are raised in single parent households.
Note: The consequences of divorce and raising children in single parent households are addressed next.