Divorce News

Nearly 9-In-10 People May Marry, But Half Of First Marriages May End In Divorce

Nearly 9-in-10 people are expected to marry sometime in their lives, but about half of first marriages may end in divorce, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

"Most adults have married only once," said Rose Kreider, co-author of Number, Timing and Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 1996. "In 1996, 54 percent of men and 60 percent of women age 15 and over had married only once."

Among people who divorced from their first spouse, the median duration of that marriage was about eight years. Among those who had remarried, the median number of years before they married again was about three.

The median duration of second marriages that ended in divorce was about seven years. (Median is the point below which half lasted a shorter time and above which half were longer.)

Other highlights of the report:

• In 1996, 8 percent of men and 10 percent of women 15 years old and over were currently divorced, although 20 percent of men and 22 percent of women had been divorced at least once. 
• In 1996, about 13 percent of men and women had been married two times, while 3 percent of men and women had been married three or more times.
• About 52 percent of currently married couples had reached at least their 15th anniversary in 1996, and 5 percent of them had reached at least their golden anniversary (50 years).

The report is the Census Bureau's first comprehensive portrait of marriage and divorce in nearly 10 years and, unlike other data sources, provides estimates for men's and women's marital patterns through their lifetimes.

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	Did You Know?
	An annulment is a court ruling that a supposed marriage was never valid. One of the most common grounds for annulment is fraud. For example, one person may have not disclosed to the other a prior divorce, a criminal record, or an unwillingness to have sexual intercourse. An annulment also may be granted may if one of the parties to the "marriage” was still married to someone else at the time of the marriage that is at issue. Other bases for annulments include marriage of an underage person, marriage to too close a blood relative, and marriage by a person under duress as the time of marriage.