Russia has the highest divorce rates in the world, the US the 6th highest

Russian Wedding

Blame it on the long, cold nights, the overabundance of vodka, or perhaps all the mail-order brides, but according to recent data released by the UN, Russia has the highest divorce rate of any country, with five divorces occurring per every 1,000 marriages. Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova get the dubious honor of runners up, while the sunny Cayman Islands round out the top five. Might want to scratch that one off your list of ideal honeymoon spots.

So where does the United States fall on the list? At sixth place, we're not too far behind our eastern European brethren with 3.4 divorces per 1,000 married couples. You know what might be a novel way to decrease those numbers? Letting gay people marry. That way couples that have been together forever can legally stay together and you know, actually be counted.

Oh and as far as individual states are concerned, the motley crew of New York, Iowa, and North Dakota are all tied with the lowest numbers. We'll stick with New York.

Comments ( 7 )

That's because you still can't get divorced because if irreconcilable differences in New York.

Me commented on Dec 22 10 at 12:36 pm

So which one's her husband? Or did she marry the entire troop? If that's the case, no wonder the divorce rate is so high there.

Twolane commented on Dec 22 10 at 12:55 pm

Allowing gay marriage will not lower the divorce rate. If gays can marry, they can also divorce.

Split Infinity commented on Dec 22 10 at 1:05 pm

Whatever Happened to the 50% Divorce Rate?

JfnB commented on Dec 22 10 at 3:57 pm

@JFnB It's myth that been perpetuated because it sounds good. Divorce rates have actually been dropping in the US since the peak in the 1970's.

rem commented on Dec 22 10 at 4:43 pm

@rem: Speaking of myths: Although divorce rates are dropping, marriage rates are dropping at least as fast.

PF commented on Dec 22 10 at 6:48 pm

The myth arose from a misunderstanding of statistics. They were comparing the number of marriages in a single year and a number of divorces in a single year. The number of divorces was roughly half the number of marriages. It failed to account for the fact that the number of divorces in a single year is a number drawn from all marriages. So maybe 50 couples get married this year and 25 couples get divorced....but those 25 couples maybe be couples that married this year, last year, 10 years ago, 50 years ago, etc. Hope that makes sense.

Lisa commented on Dec 22 10 at 8:06 pm

Russia has the highest divorce rates in the world, the US the 6th highest

Comments ( 7 )

Leave a Comment