title: Divorce

text: In Europe, divorce laws differ from country to country, reflecting differing legal and cultural traditions. In some countries, particularly (but not only) in some former communist countries, divorce can be obtained only on one single general ground of "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage" (or a similar formulation). Yet, what constitutes such a "breakdown" of the marriage is interpreted very differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, ranging from very liberal interpretations (e.g. Netherlands) to quite restrictive ones (e.g., in Poland, there must be an "irretrievable and complete disintegration of matrimonial life", but there are many restrictions to granting a divorce). Separation constitutes a ground of divorce in some European countries (in Germany, e.g., a divorce is granted on the basis of a 1-year separation if both spouses consent, or 3-year separation if only one spouse consents). Note that "separation" does not necessarily mean separate residences – in some jurisdictions, living in the same household but leading a separate life (e.g., eating, sleeping, socializing, etc. separately) is sufficient to constitute "de facto" separation; this is explicitly stated, e.g., in the family laws of Latvia or the Czech Republic.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce laws are not static; they often change reflecting evolving social norms of societies. In the 21st century, many European countries have made changes to their divorce laws, in particular by reducing the length of the necessary periods of separation, e.g., Scotland in 2006 (1 or 2 years from the previous 2 or 5 years); France in 2005 (2 years from the previous 6 years), Switzerland in 2005 (2 years from the previous 4 years), Greece in 2008 (2 years from the previous 4 years). Some countries have completely overhauled their divorce laws, such as Spain in 2005, and Portugal in 2008. A new divorce law also came into force in September 2007 in Belgium, creating a new system that is primarily no-fault. Bulgaria also modified its divorce regulations in 2009. Also in Italy, new laws came into force in 2014 and 2015 with significant changes in Italian law in matter of divorce: apart from shortening of the period of obligatory separation (6 months for consensual separations and 1 year for contested ones from the previous 3 years), are allowed other forms of getting a divorce – as an alternative to court proceedings, i.e. the negotiations with the participation of an advocate or agreement made before the registrar of Public Registry Office. Austria by contrast is a European country where the divorce law still remains conservative.


title: Divorce

text: The liberalization of divorce laws is not without opposition, particularly in the United States. Indeed, in the US, certain conservative and religious organizations are lobbying for laws which restrict divorce. In 2011, in the US, the Coalition for Divorce Reform was established, describing itself as an organization "dedicated to supporting efforts to reduce unnecessary divorce and promote healthy marriages".


title: Divorce

text: The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church founds the concept of marriage on natural moral law, elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas, supplemented by the revealed Divine law. The doctrine of the Doctor Angelicus has been partially shared by the Eastern Orthodox Church in the course of history.


title: Divorce

text: In some jurisdictions, the courts will seldom apply principles of fault, but might willingly hold a party liable for a breach of a fiduciary duty to his or her spouse. Grounds for divorce differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in the worldwide. Some states have no-fault divorce; some states require a declaration of fault on the part of one partner or both; some states allow either method.


title: Divorce

text: In most jurisdictions, a divorce must be certified or ordered by a Judge in a court of law to come into effect. The terms of the divorce are usually determined by the courts, though they may take into account prenuptial agreements or post-nuptial agreements, or ratify terms that the spouses may have agreed to privately, while in other areas, agreements related to the marriage have to be rendered in writing to be enforceable. In the absence of agreement, a contested divorce may be stressful to the spouses.


title: Divorce

text: In some countries, when the spouses agree to divorce and to the terms of the divorce, it can be certified by a non-judiciary administrative entity. The effect of a divorce is that both parties are free to marry again if a filing in an appellate court does not overturn the decision.


title: Divorce

text: Contested divorces mean that one of several issues are required to be heard by a judge at trial level—this is more expensive, and the parties will have to pay for a lawyer's time and preparation. In such a divorce the spouses are not able to agree on issues for instance child custody and division of marital assets. In such situations, the litigation process takes longer to conclude. The judge controls the outcome of the case. Less adversarial approaches to divorce settlements have recently emerged, such as mediation and collaborative divorce settlement, which negotiate mutually acceptable resolution to conflicts. This principle in the United States is called 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' and has gained popularity.


title: Divorce

text: Before the late 1960s, nearly all countries that permitted divorce required proof by one party that the other party had committed an act incompatible with the marriage. This was termed "grounds" for divorce (popularly called "fault") and was the only way to terminate a marriage. No-fault divorce is available in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and other Western countries.


title: Divorce

text: Fault-based divorces can be contested; evaluation of offenses may involve allegations of collusion of the parties working together to get the divorce, or condonation by approving the offense, connivance by tricking someone into committing an offens), or provocation by the other party. Contested fault divorces can be expensive, and not usually practical as eventually most divorces are granted. Comparative rectitude is a doctrine used to determine which spouse is more at fault when both spouses are guilty of breaches.


title: Divorce

text: The grounds for a divorce which a party could raise and need to prove included 'desertion,' 'abandonment,' 'cruelty,' or 'adultery.' The requirement of proving a ground was revised and withdrawn by the terms of 'no-fault' statutes, which became popular in many Western countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 'no-fault' jurisdictions divorce can be obtained either on a simple allegation of 'irreconcilable differences,' 'irretrievable break-down', or 'incompatibility' with respect to the marriage relationship, or on the ground of separation.


title: Divorce

text: A summary or simpledivorce, available in some jurisdictions, is used when spouses meet certain eligibility requirements or can agree on key issues beforehand.


title: Divorce

text: Most Western jurisdictions have a no-fault divorce system, which requires no allegation or proof of fault of either party. The barest of assertions suffice. For example, in countries that require "irretrievable breakdown", the mere assertion that the marriage has broken down will satisfy the judicial officer. In other jurisdictions requiring irreconcilable differences, the mere allegation that the marriage has been irreparable by these differences is enough for granting a divorce. Courts will not inquire into facts. A "yes" is enough, even if the other party vehemently says "no".


title: Divorce

text: In jurisdictions adopting the 'no-fault' principle regarding whether to "grant" a divorce, some courts may still take into account the fault of the parties when determining some aspects of the "content" of the divorce decree, "e.g.", its terms for the division of property and debts and the absence, or amount, of spousal support. Provisions related to child custody are determined using a different fundamental standard: the child's or children's best interests; At the same time, some behaviors that may constitute marital fault "e.g.", violence, cruelty, endangerment, neglect, or substance abuse may also qualify as factors to be considered when determining child custody, they do so for the independent reason that they provide evidence as to what arrangement is in the child's or children's best interests in the future.


title: Divorce

text: It is estimated that upwards of 95% of divorces in the U.S. are "uncontested", because the two parties are able to come to an agreement (either with or without lawyers/mediators/collaborative counsel) about the property, children, and support issues. When the parties can agree and present the court with a fair and equitable agreement, approval of the divorce is almost guaranteed. If the two parties cannot come to an agreement, they may ask the court to decide how to split property and deal with the custody of their children. Though this may be necessary, the courts would prefer parties to come to an agreement prior to entering court.


title: Divorce

text: Where the issues are not complex and the parties are cooperative, a settlement often can be directly negotiated between them. In the majority of cases, forms are acquired from their respective state websites and a filing fee is paid to the state. Most U.S. states charge between $175 and $350 for a simple divorce filing. Collaborative divorce and mediated divorce are considered uncontested divorces.


title: Divorce

text: In the United States, many state court systems are experiencing an increasing proportion of "pro se" ("i.e.", litigants represent themselves without a lawyer) in divorce cases. In San Diego, for example, the number of divorce filings involving at least one self-representing litigant rose from 46% in 1992 to 77% in 2000, and in Florida from 66% in 1999 to 73% in 2001. Urban courts in California report that approximately 80% of the new divorce filings are filed "pro se".


title: Divorce

text: Collaborative divorce is a method for divorcing couples to come to an agreement on divorce issues. In a collaborative divorce, the parties negotiate an agreed resolution with the assistance of attorneys who are trained in the collaborative divorce process and in mediation and often with the assistance of a neutral financial specialist or divorce coaches. The parties are empowered to make their own decisions based on their own needs and interests, but with complete information and full professional support.


title: Divorce

text: Once the collaborative divorce starts, the lawyers are disqualified from representing the parties in a contested legal proceeding, should the collaborative law process end prematurely. Most attorneys who practise collaborative divorce claim that it can be more cost-effective than other divorce methods, "e.g.", going to court.


title: Divorce

text: Portugal, for example, allows two persons to file an electronic request for no-fault collaborative divorce in a non judiciary administrative entity. In specific cases, with no children, real property, alimony, or common address, can be completed within one hour.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce mediation is an alternative to traditional divorce litigation. In a divorce mediation session, a mediator facilitates the discussion between the two parties by assisting with communication and providing information and suggestions to help resolve differences. At the end of the mediation process, the separating parties have typically developed a tailored divorce agreement that can be submitted to the court. Mediation sessions can include either party's attorneys, a neutral attorney, or an attorney-mediator who can inform both parties of their legal rights, but does not provide advice to either, or can be conducted with the assistance of a facilitative or transformative mediator without attorneys present at all. Some mediation companies, such as Wevorce, also pair clients with counselors, financial planners and other professionals to work through common mediation sticking points. Divorce mediators may be attorneys who have experience in divorce cases, or they may be professional mediators who are not attorneys, but who have training specifically in the area of family court matters. Divorce mediation can be significantly less costly, both financially and emotionally, than litigation. The adherence rate to mediated agreements is much higher than that of adherence to court orders.


title: Divorce

text: Polygamy is a significant structural factor governing divorce in countries where this is permitted. Little-to-no analysis has been completed to explicitly explain the link between marital instability and polygamy which leads to divorce. The frequency of divorce rises in polygamous marriages compared to monogamous relationships. Within polygamous unions, differences in conjugal stability are found to occur by wife order. There are 3 main mechanisms through which polygamy affects divorce: economic restraint, sexual satisfaction, and childlessness. Many women escape economic restraint through divorcing their spouses when they are allowed to initiate a divorce.


title: Divorce

text: An annual study in the UK by management consultants Grant Thornton, estimates the main proximal causes of divorce based on surveys of matrimonial lawyers.


title: Divorce

text: According to this survey, husbands engaged in extramarital affairs in 75% of cases, wives in 25%. In cases of family strain, wives' families were the primary source of strain in 78%, compared to 22% of husbands' families. Emotional and physical abuse were more evenly split, with wives affected in 60% and husbands in 40% of cases. In 70% of workaholism-related divorces it was husbands who were the cause, and in 30%, wives. The 2004 survey found that 93% of divorce cases were petitioned by wives, very few of which were contested. 53% of divorces were of marriages that had lasted 10 to 15 years, with 40% ending after 5 to 10 years. The first 5 years are relatively divorce-free, and if a marriage survives more than 20 years it is unlikely to end in divorce.


title: Divorce

text: Social scientists study the causes of divorce in terms of underlying factors that may possibly motivate divorce. One of these factors is the age at which a person gets married; delaying marriage may provide more opportunity or experience in choosing a compatible partner. Wage, income, and sex ratios are other such underlying factors that have been included in analyses by sociologists and economists.


title: Divorce

text: The elevation of divorce rates among couples who cohabited prior to marriage is called the "cohabitation effect". Evidence suggests that although this correlation is partly due to two forms of selection ("a") that persons whose moral or religious codes permit cohabitation are also more likely to consider divorce permitted by morality or religion and ("b") that marriage based on low levels of commitment is more common among couples who cohabit than among couples who do not, such that the mean and median levels of commitment at the start of marriage are lower among cohabiting than among non-cohabiting couples), the cohabitation experience itself exerts at least some independent effect on the subsequent marital union.


title: Divorce

text: In 2010, a study by Jay Teachman published in "Journal of Marriage and Family" found that women who have cohabited or had premarital sex with men other than their husbands have an increased risk of divorce, and that this effect is strongest for women who have cohabited with multiple men prior to marriage. To Teachman, the fact that the elevated risk of divorce is only experienced when the premarital partner(s) is someone other than the husband indicates that premarital sex and cohabitation are now a normal part of the courtship process in the United States. This study only considers data on women in the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth in the United States. Divorce is sometimes caused by one of the partners finding the other unattractive.


title: Divorce

text: Recent studies show that the cohabitation effect on divorce varies across different cultures and periods. Another article published in "Journal of Marriage and Family" found that when cohabitation was uncommon in pre-reform China, premarital cohabitation increased the likelihood of subsequent divorce, but this association disappeared when cohabitation became prevalent.


title: Divorce

text: Some of the effects associated with divorce include academic, behavioral, and psychological problems. Although this may not always be true, studies suggest that children from divorced families are more likely to exhibit such behavioral issues than non-divorced families.


title: Divorce

text: Research done at Northern Illinois University on Family and Child Studies suggests that divorce of couples experiencing high conflict can positively affect families by reducing conflict in the home. There are, however, many instances when the parent-child relationship may suffer due to divorce. Financial support is many times lost when an adult goes through a divorce. The adult may be obligated to obtain additional work to maintain financial stability. This can lead to a negative relationship between the parent and child; the relationship may suffer due to a lack of attention towards the child and minimal parental supervision


title: Divorce

text: Studies have also shown that parental skills decrease after a divorce occurs; however, this effect is only a temporary change. "Many researchers have shown that a disequilibrium, including diminished parenting skills, occurs in the year following the divorce but that by two years after the divorce re-stabilization has occurred and parenting skills have improved."


title: Divorce

text: Some couples choose divorce even when one spouse's desire to remain married is greater than the other spouse's desire to obtain a divorce. In economics, this is known as the Zelder Paradox and is more familiar with marriages that have produced children and less common with childless couples.


title: Divorce

text: Research has also found that recent divorcees report significantly higher hostility levels after the divorce than before, and that this effect applies equally to both male and female divorcees.


title: Divorce

text: In an American Psychological Association study of parents' relocation after a divorce, researchers found that a move has a long-term effect on children. In the first study conducted amongst 2,000 college students on the effects of parental relocation relating to their children's well-being after divorce, researchers found major differences. In divorced families in which one parent moved, the students received less financial support from their parents compared with divorced families in which neither parent moved. These findings also imply other negative outcomes for these students, such as more distress related to the divorce and did not feel a sense of emotional support from their parents. Although the data suggests negative outcomes for these students whose parents relocate after divorce, there is insufficient research that can alone prove the overall well-being of the child A newer study in the "Journal of Family Psychology" found that parents who move more than an hour away from their children after a divorce are much less well off than those parents who stayed in the same location


title: Divorce

text: Divorce is associated with diminished psychological well-being in children and adult offspring of divorced parents, including greater unhappiness, less satisfaction with life, weaker sense of personal control, anxiety, depression, and greater use of mental health services. A preponderance of evidence indicates that there is a causal effect between divorce and these outcomes.


title: Divorce

text: A study in Sweden led by the Centre for Health Equity Studies (Chess) at Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, is published in the "Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health" found that children living with just one parent after divorce suffer from more problems such as headaches, stomach aches, feelings of tension and sadness than those whose parents share custody.


title: Divorce

text: Children of divorced parents are also more likely to experience conflict in their own marriages, and are more likely to experience divorce themselves. They are also more likely to be involved in short-term cohabiting relationships, which often dissolve before marriage. There are many studies that show proof of an intergenerational transmission of divorce, but this does not mean that having divorced parents will absolutely lead a child to divorce. There are two key factors that make this transmission of divorce more likely. First, inherited biological tendencies or genetic conditions may predispose a child to divorce as well as the "model of marriage" presented by the child's parents.


title: Divorce

text: According to Nicholas Wall, former President of the Family Division of the English High Court, "People think that post-separation parenting is easy – in fact, it is exceedingly difficult, and as a rule of thumb my experience is that the more intelligent the parent, the more intractable the dispute. There is nothing worse, for most children, than for their parents to denigrate each other. Parents simply do not realize the damage they do to their children by the battles they wage over them. Separating parents rarely behave reasonably, although they always believe that they are doing so, and that the other party is behaving unreasonably."


title: Divorce

text: Children involved in high-conflict divorce or custody cases can experience varying forms of psychological distress due to conflict between their parents. Legal professionals recognize that alienating behaviors are common in child custody cases, but are cautious about accepting the concept of parental alienation.


title: Divorce

text: Research shows that children can be affected 2–4 years before the separation or divorce even occurs. This can be due to parental conflict and anticipation of a divorce, and decreased parental contact. Many couples believe that by separating, or becoming legally divorced that they are helping their children, and in situations of extreme parental conflict or abuse it most likely will be beneficial.


title: Divorce

text: Exposure to marital conflict and instability, most often has negative consequences for children. Several mechanisms are likely to be responsible. First, observing overt conflict between parents is a direct stressor for children. Observational studies reveal that children react to inter-parental conflict with fear, anger, or the inhibition of normal behavior. Preschool children – who tend to be egocentric – may blame themselves for marital conflict, resulting in feelings of guilt and lowered self-esteem. Conflict between parents also tends to spill over and negatively affect the quality of parents' interactions with their children. Researchers found that the associations between marital conflict and children's externalizing and internalizing problems were largely mediated by parents' use of harsh punishment and parent–child conflict. Furthermore, modeling verbal or physical aggression, parents "teach" their children that disagreements are resolved through conflict rather than calm discussion. As a result, children may not learn the social skills (such as the ability to negotiate and reach compromises) that are necessary to form mutually rewarding relationships with peers.


title: Divorce

text: Girls and boys deal with divorce differently. For instance, girls who initially show signs of adapting well, later suffer from anxiety in romantic relationships with men. Studies also showed that girls who were separated from their fathers at a younger age tended to be angrier toward the situation as they aged. Anger and sadness were also observed as common feelings in adolescents who had experienced parental divorce.


title: Divorce

text: Frequently, children who have experienced a divorce have lower academic achievement than children from non-divorced families


title: Divorce

text: In a review of family and school factors related to adolescents' academic performance, it noted that a child from a divorced family is two times more likely to drop out of high school than a child from a non-divorced family. These children from divorced families may also be less likely to attend college, resulting in the discontinuation of their academic career.


title: Divorce

text: Many times academic problems are associated with those children from single-parent families. Studies have shown that this issue may be directly related to the economical influence of divorce. A divorce may result in the parent and children moving to an area with a higher poverty rate and a poor education system all due to the financial struggles of a single parent.


title: Divorce

text: Children of divorced parents also achieve lower levels of socioeconomic status, income, and wealth accumulation than children of continuously married parents. These outcomes are associated with lower educational achievement.


title: Divorce

text: Young men or women between the ages of 7 and 16 who had experienced the divorce of their parents were more likely than youths who had not experienced the divorce of their parents to leave home because of friction, to cohabit before marriage, and to parent a child before marriage.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce often leads to worsened academic achievement in children ages 7–12, the most heightened negative effect being reading test scores. These negative effects tend to persist, and even escalate after the divorce or separation occurs.


title: Divorce

text: Children of divorced or separated parents exhibit increased behavioral problems and the marital conflict that accompanies parents' divorce places the child's social competence at risk.


title: Divorce

text: In the United States of America, since the mid-1990s, the divorce rate has increased to over 50% among baby boomers. More and more seniors are staying single; an analysis of census data conducted at Bowling Green State University predicted that divorce numbers would continue to rise. Baby boomers who remain unmarried are five times more likely to live in poverty than those who are married. They are also three times as likely to receive food stamps, public assistance or disability payments.


title: Divorce

text: Sociologists believe that the rise in the number of older Americans who are not married is a result of factors such as longevity and economics. Women, especially, are becoming more and more financially independent which allows them to feel more secure with being alone, in addition to changing perceptions of being divorced or single. This has resulted in less pressure for baby boomers to marry or stay married.


title: Divorce

text: China currently holds one of the highest divorce rates in the Asia Pacific region. Compared to 2000, China's divorce rates have gone up substantially from a 0.96 crude divorce rate to 3.09 rate in 2020. While China's divorce rate has been increasing since 2000, the highest recorded crude divorce rate in the past 20 years was in 2019 with 3.36 divorces. However, since 2019, China's recorded divorce rate has gone down.


title: Divorce

text: China has no-fault divorce which was implemented through the New Marriage Law in 1950. This allows individuals to divorce without showing any evidence of wrongdoing. China is one of the only Asian countries which permits no-fault divorce.


title: Divorce

text: As of January 2021, China introduced a new policy called the "cooling-off rule".  China, seeing the rise in divorce rates increasing on a yearly basis, the "Marriage and Family Edition of Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" secured an article 1077 establishing a mandatory cooling-off period, which has two requirements. First, on the day in which authorities have received the divorce applications, both parties can withdraw the registration within 30 days, and additionally to that, after 30 days are up, couples are required to physically apply for divorce certificate, and if they do not show up, the initial divorce application will be automatically perceived as withdrawn. This novel policy has been extremely controversial, where couples are required to wait for at least 30-days before they can commence a divorce. The 30-day cooling off period is created with the aim of generating more social stability, which avoids couples from making rushed or in-the-heat-of-the-moment emotionally-charged decisions. Family stability has always been culturally rooted in China, influenced by Confucian beliefs where the harmony of family brings the success of everything. A divorce can only be granted when couples have gone through a one-month long delay in order to make a decision.


title: Divorce

text: Since the implementation of the cooling-off rule, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs discovered as sharp 72 percent drop in divorce rates since the last quarter. Given the 30-days of cooling-off time, many couples have changed their minds, supporting the argument that most divorce decisions are made irrationally and emotionally. Although there has been a positive effect to reduce divorce in the country, Chinese citizens are not responding well to the cooling-off policy, which concerns women in marriages experiencing domestic abuse. In fact, from "China Digital Times", a woman by the name of Kan Xiaofang died of domestic abuse because when she filed for divorce in 2021, she had to wait 30-days for the divorce to be finalized – she was "hacked to death" by her husband. The 30-day rule has angered Chinese feminists, who believes that the policy undermines the concept of freedom, and does not take into consideration of domestic violence, which runs common within Chinese households. The cooling-off policy is still relatively new today, only being less than 2-years old. Therefore, this policy is still one that needs to be examined more deeply to analyze the effect and consequences of delaying the divorce process.


title: Divorce

text: India has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world with around 1% of marriages ending in divorces. That being said, a lot of individuals split without choosing to go through the process of divorce. In fact, a large number of marriages are not registered and thus, a dissolution in such partnership would not be shown in the divorce statistics. Additionally, divorce is still stigmatized and seen as taboo amongst many families in India.


title: Divorce

text: The Hindu Marriage Act is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1955. Three other important acts were also enacted as part of the Hindu Code Bills during this time: the Hindu Succession Act (1956), the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (1956), the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956). Divorce under various acts in India: The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 The dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 The Special Marriage Act, 1956 The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 The Dissolution of Marriage and Judicial separation (under the Indian Divorce Act, 1869).


title: Divorce

text: Due to the existence of diverse religious faiths in India, the Indian Judiciary has implemented laws separately for couples belonging to different religious beliefs. Mutual consent divorce procedure is relatively easier and fast while contested divorce procedure takes longer and depends on the religions of the couples.


title: Divorce

text: In 2020 there were around 291,000 divorces recorded in Indonesia. These numbers are lower than the previous year – reportedly due to the pandemic and a longer process of the dissolution process. Divorces are settled in religious courts, if they are Muslim, or through 'talaq' where a married man can pronounce divorce to his wife. There are six grounds of divorce, with an additional two for Moslem marriages, which include:


title: Divorce

text: In Japan, divorces were on an upward trend from the 1960s until 2002 when they hit a peak of 290,000 divorces. While divorce rates have increased since the 1900s, they have also slightly declined since 2002. In fact, in 2020 there were approximately 193,300 divorces. This is a significant decrease from the prior year, 2019, which recorded 208,489 divorces.


title: Divorce

text: There are several types of divorces in Japan; Divorce by Agreement, Divorce by Conciliation, and Divorce by Judgement.  Divorce by Agreement (rikon), occurs when both parties mutually agree to separate and do not need to go to court. This is the most common type of divorce in Japan. Divorce by Conciliation (chotei rikon) is sought out when individuals are unable to agree on terms or separate. Thus, these cases go to court in hope to come to a mutual agreement for both parties. Lastly, Divorce by Judgement (saiban rikon) occurs when individuals are unable to reach an agreement in court during conciliation. Divorce by judgement is uncommon in Japan.


title: Divorce

text: Singapore has a crude divorce rate of 1.7 divorce per 1,000 residents. Singapore has seen a decrease in divorce rates compared to previous years. In fact, 2020 marks the lowest number of divorces recorded. In 2020, there were 6,700 divorces compared to 2015–2019, which recorded an average number of 7,536 marital dissolutions. Additionally, most divorces were initiated by women.


title: Divorce

text: Singapore requires you to be married for three years before filing for divorce. That being said, if one has suffered exceptional hardship, they are eligible to file for divorce before the three years. Additionally, to get a divorce, there must be proof of an "irretrievable breakdown" of one of the four factors which include adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion and separation.


title: Divorce

text: The crude divorce rate in South Korea in 2020 was 2.1. Compared to prior years, the number of divorces recorded depicts that there are less filed divorces each year. Both the number of marriages and divorces decreased from 2019 by 10.7% and 3.9% respectively.


title: Divorce

text: The highest proportion of divorces in 2020 was amongst those who have been married for 20 years or more followed by those who have been married for four years or less. Such findings may suggest that divorce has become more socially accepted in South Korea and the stigma behind separating has lessened.


title: Divorce

text: Taiwan's divorce rate in 2020 stood at 2.19 divorces per 1,000 residents. This is the lowest recorded divorce rate in the past 10 years. Many divorces in Taiwan are not done in court if there is a mutual agreement. If one of the parties does not consent to the divorce, then the other spouse may file for divorce under a valid reason of bigamy, infidelity, ill treatment or desertion. Before 2020, adultery in Taiwan was considered a crime and punishable by law.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce has increased across Europe in the past decade – the rate varies between European countries. One study estimated that legal reforms accounted for about 20% increase of the divorce rates in Europe between 1960 and 2002. In 2019, Luxembourg had the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages followed by Portugal, Finland, and Spain. Countries in Europe with some of the lowest number of divorces per 100 marriages are Ireland and Malta.


title: Divorce

text: On average, for every three new marriages in Serbia, one divorce occurs. In 2019, 35,570 marriages were concluded in Serbia, 10,899 marriages were divorced, and the number of divorces per 1,000 inhabitants was 1.6%.


title: Divorce

text: In 2015, the highest divorces rates in the UK were recorded all beside the sea, with Blackpool in the top position. The UK divorce rate is estimated at 42% and in 2019, around 107,599 divorces were reported. The highest number of divorce applications are reportedly made on Divorce Day, which is always the first Monday of the new year.


title: Divorce

text: The crude divorce rate in 2022 in the United States is 2.3 divorces. This is significantly lower than prior years, such as those in 2001 where 4.1 divorces were recorded.  These recent findings suggest a downward trend of the number of people dissolving their marriage. However, divorce rates range from state to state. It's important to look back on why prior years had such a high divorce rate amongst Americans.


title: Divorce

text: The National Center for Health Statistics reports that wives, with children present, filed for divorce in approximately two-thirds of cases from 1975 to 1988 in the U.S. For example, 71.4% of the cases were filed by women in 1975 and 65% were filed by women in 1988. It is estimated that upwards of 95% of divorces in the U.S. are "uncontested", because the two parties are able to come to an agreement without a hearing (either with or without lawyers/mediators/collaborative counsel) about the property, children, and support issues.


title: Divorce

text: In 2000, the divorce rate reached its peak at 40% but has since slowly declined. In 2001, marriages between people of different faiths were three times more likely to get divorced than those of the same faith. In fact, in a 1993 study, members of two mainline Protestant religions had a 20% chance of being divorced in 5 years; a 33% for a Catholic and Evangelical, and a 40% chance for a Jew and a Christian.


title: Divorce

text: Couples with different ethnicities and races also had distinctive divorce statistics. In 2008, a study by Jenifer L. Bratter and Rosalind B. King on the Education Resources Information Center, found that unions between White males and non-White females as well as between Hispanics and non-Hispanic individuals, have similar or lower risks of divorce than White marriages. Unions between a White male and Black female last longer than White-White pairings or White-Asian pairings. Conversely, a White female with a Black male and White female with an Asian male are more prone to divorce than White-White pairings.


title: Divorce

text: Additionally, as found in 2010, success in marriage has been associated with a higher education and older age. For example, 81% of college graduates who were over 26 years old, who wed in the 1980s, were still married 20 years later. Additionally, 65% of college graduates under 26, who married in the 1980s, were still married 20 years later. Furthermore, 49% of high school graduates under 26 years old, who married in the 1980s, were still married 20 years later. Conversely, 2.9% of adults aged 35–39 and without a college degree got divorced in the year 2009 – compared with 1.6% with a college education.


title: Divorce

text: Another study looking at population differences found that a 1% increase in the unemployment rate correlated with a 1% decrease in the divorce rate. This was found to be presumably true for individuals who were financially challenged when trying to afford the legal proceedings. Nevertheless, another study from 1900 to 2008 found that there was a significant increase in the risk of divorce following a layoff and being unemployed.


title: Divorce

text: The crude divorce rate in Australia in 2020 was 1.9 divorces. This rate has remained somewhat consistent throughout the past few years and is the same as the previous year. However, as divorces are granted after 12 months of separation, splits during COVID may not be reflected in the current divorce rate. The divorce rate has decreased substantially over the past 20 years with 2.6 divorces recorded in 2000. In order to apply for divorce, one must be separated for at least 12 months.


title: Divorce

text: New Zealand's divorce rate in 2020 was 7.6 divorces per 1,000 residents. This rate marks a decrease from previous years – such as those in 1983 with a crude divorce rate of 13.3. In fact, this rate has decreased significantly from the previous year, 2019, with a divorce rate of 8.4. Before filing for divorced, one must be separated for at least two years. After this time, one is eligible to submit an application. If it is a joint application, divorce will take effect after one month. If one applies as a sole application, then the other spouse has the opportunity to defend it within a certain time period. Additionally, if individuals appear in court together and the judge files the divorce order, then the divorce will effective immediately.


title: Divorce

text: According to Statistics South Africa, the number of divorces increased by 0.3% from 25,260 divorces granted in 2015 to 25,326 granted in 2016. About 44.4% of the 2016 divorces came from marriages that did not reach their tenth wedding anniversary. About 51.1% of divorces in 2016 were filed by women while men filed 34.2% divorce cases.


title: Divorce

text: Attitudes toward divorce vary substantially across the world. Divorce is considered socially unacceptable by most of the population in certain Sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, South Asian countries including India and Pakistan and South-East Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia. The majority of the population considers divorce acceptable in Eastern Europe, East Asia, Latin America and the United States. In developed regions such as Western Europe and Japan, more than 80% of the population consider divorce socially acceptable. Divorce is also widely accepted in certain Muslim majority countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, at least when men initiate it.


title: Divorce

text: All U.S. states permit same-sex marriage. For same-sex couples in the United States, divorce law is in its infancy.


title: Divorce

text: Upon dissolution of a same-sex marriage, legal questions remain as to the rights of spouses to custody of the biological children of their spouses. Unresolved legal questions abound in this area.


title: Divorce

text: Child custody policies include several guidelines that determine with whom the child lives following divorce, how time is divided in joint custody situations, and visitation rights. The most frequently applied custody guideline is the "best interests of the child" standard, which takes into account the parents' preferences, the child's preferences, the interactions between parents and children, children's adjustment, and all family members' mental and physical health.


title: Divorce

text: In some countries (commonly in Europe and North America), the government defines and administers marriages and divorces. While ceremonies may be performed by religious officials on behalf of the state, a civil marriage and thus, civil divorce (without the involvement of a religion) is also possible. Due to differing standards and procedures, a couple can be legally unmarried, married, or divorced by the state's definition, but have a different status as defined by a religious order. Other countries use religious law to administer marriages and divorces, eliminating this distinction. In these cases, religious officials are generally responsible for interpretation and implementation.


title: Divorce

text: Islam allows, yet generally advises against divorce, and it can be initiated by either the husband or the wife.


title: Divorce

text: Christian views on divorce vary: Catholic teaching allows only annulment, while most other denominations discourage it except in the event of adultery. For example, the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, in its 2014 Discipline, teaches:


title: Divorce

text: Jewish views of divorce differ, with Reform Judaism considering civil divorces adequate; Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, on the other hand, require that the husband grant his wife a divorce in the form of a "get".


title: Divorce

text: The Millet System, where each religious group regulates its own marriages and divorces, is still present in varying degrees in some post−Ottoman countries including Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt. Several countries use sharia (Islamic law) to administrate marriages and divorces for Muslims. Thus, Marriage in Israel is administered separately by each religious community (Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze), and there is no provision for interfaith marriages other than marrying in another country. For Jews, marriage and divorce are administered by Orthodox rabbis. Partners can file for divorce either in rabbinical court or Israeli civil court.


title: Divorce

text: According to a study published in the American Law and Economics Review, women have filed slightly more than two-thirds of divorce cases in the United States. This trend is mirrored in the UK where a recent study into web search behavior found that 70% of divorce inquiries were from women. These findings also correlate with the Office for National Statistics publication "Divorces in England and Wales 2012 which reported that divorce petitions from women outnumber those from men by 2 to 1.


title: Divorce

text: Regarding divorce settlements, according to the 2004 Grant Thornton survey in the UK, women obtained a better or considerably better settlement than men in 60% of cases. In 30% of cases the assets were split 50–50, and in only 10% of cases did men achieve better settlements (down from 24% the previous year). The report concluded that the percentage of shared residence orders would need to increase in order for more equitable financial divisions to become the norm.


title: Divorce

text: For couples to Conservative or Orthodox Jewish law (which by Israeli civil law includes all Jews in Israel), the husband must grant his wife a divorce through a document called a "get". Granting the 'get' obligates him to pay the woman a significant sum of money(10,000-$20,000) as stated on the religious prenuptial contract, which can be in addition to whatever prior settlement he had reached as far as continuous child support and funds he had to pay by court order in the civil divorce. If the man refuses, (and agreeing on condition he will not have to pay the money is still called refusing), the woman can appeal to a court or the community to pressure the husband. A woman whose husband refuses to grant the get or a woman whose husband is missing without sufficient knowledge that he died, is called an agunah, is still married, and therefore cannot remarry. Under Orthodox law, children of an extramarital affair involving a married Jewish woman are considered "mamzerim" and cannot marry non-"mamzerim".


title: Divorce

text: The ancient Athenians liberally allowed divorce, but the person requesting divorce had to submit the request to a magistrate, and the magistrate could determine whether the reasons given were sufficient.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce was rare in early Roman culture but as their empire grew in power and authority Roman civil law embraced the maxim, "" ("marriages ought to be free"), and either husband or wife could renounce the marriage at will. The Christian emperors Constantine and Theodosius restricted the grounds for divorce to grave cause, but this was relaxed by Justinian in the 6th century.


title: Divorce

text: After the fall of the Roman Empire, familial life was regulated more by ecclesiastical authority than civil authority. The Catholic and Orthodox Church had, among others, a differing view of divorce.


title: Divorce

text: The Orthodox Church recognized that there are rare occasions when it is better that couples do separate. For the Orthodox, to say that marriage is indissoluble means that it should not be broken, the violation of such a union, perceived as holy, being an offense resulting from either adultery or the prolonged absence of one of the partners. Thus, permitting remarriage is an act of compassion of the Church towards sinful man.


title: Divorce

text: Under the influence of the Catholic Church, the divorce rate had been greatly reduced by the 9th or 10th century, which considered marriage a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ and indissoluble by mere human action.


title: Divorce

text: Although divorce, as known today, was generally prohibited in Catholic lands after the 10th century, separation of husband and wife and the annulment of marriage were well-known. What is today referred to as "separate maintenance" (or "legal separation") was termed "divorce a mensa et thoro" ("divorce from bed-and-board"). The husband and wife physically separated and were forbidden to live or cohabit together, but their marital relationship did not fully terminate. Civil courts had no power over marriage or divorce. The grounds for annulment were determined by a Catholic church authority and applied in ecclesiastical courts. Annulment was for canonical causes of impediment existing at the time of the marriage. "For in cases of total divorce, the marriage is declared null, as having been absolutely unlawful ab initio." The Catholic Church held that the sacrament of marriage produced one person from two, inseparable from each other: "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being of legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage or at least incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs everything." Since husband and wife became one person upon marriage, recognition of that oneness could be rescinded only on the grounds that the unity never existed to begin with, "i.e.", that the proclamation of marriage was erroneous and void from the start.


title: Divorce

text: After the Reformation, marriage came to be considered a contract in the newly Protestant regions of Europe, and on that basis, civil authorities gradually asserted their power to decree a "divortium a vinculo matrimonii", or "divorce from all the bonds of marriage".


title: Divorce

text: Since no precedents existed defining the circumstances under which marriage could be dissolved, civil courts heavily relied on the previous determinations of the ecclesiastic courts and freely adopted the requirements set down by those courts. As the civil courts assumed the power to dissolve marriages, courts still strictly construed the circumstances under which they would grant a divorce, and considered divorce to be contrary to public policy. Because divorce was considered to be against the public interest, civil courts refused to grant a divorce if evidence revealed any hint of complicity between the husband and wife to divorce, or if they attempted to manufacture grounds for a divorce. Divorce was granted only because one party to the marriage had violated a sacred vow to the "innocent spouse". If both husband and wife were guilty, "neither would be allowed to escape the bonds of marriage".


title: Divorce

text: Eventually, the idea that a marriage could be dissolved in cases in which one of the parties violated the sacred vow gradually allowed expansion of the grounds upon which divorce could be granted from those grounds which existed at the time of the marriage to grounds which occurred after the marriage, but which exemplified violation of that vow, such as abandonment, adultery, or "extreme cruelty". An exception to this trend was the Anglican Church, which maintained the doctrine of marital indissolubility.


title: Divorce

text: During the English Civil War, the Puritans briefly passed a law that divested marriage of all sacrament, leaving it as a secular contract that could be broken. John Milton wrote four divorce tracts in 1643–1645 that argued for the legitimacy of divorce on grounds of spousal incompatibility. His ideas were ahead of their time; arguing for divorce at all, let alone a version of no-fault divorce, was extremely controversial and religious figures sought to ban his tracts. In 1670 a precedent was first set with an Act of Parliament allowing Lord John Manners to divorce his wife, Lady Anne Pierrepont, and until the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, divorce could only be obtained through a specific Act of Parliament.


title: Divorce

text: The move towards secularisation and liberalisation was reinforced by the individualistic and secular ideals of the Enlightenment. The Enlightened absolutist, King Frederick II ("the Great") of Prussia decreed a new divorce law in 1752, in which marriage was declared to be a purely private concern, allowing divorce to be granted on the basis of mutual consent. This new attitude heavily influenced the law in neighbouring Austria under Emperor Joseph II, where it was applied to all non-Catholic Imperial subjects. Divorce was legalised in France after the French revolution on a similar basis, although the legal order of the ancien regime was reinstated at the Bourbon restoration of 1816. The trend in Europe throughout the 19th century, was one of increased liberalisation; by the mid-19th century, divorce was generally granted by civil courts in the case of adultery.


title: Divorce

text: In Britain, before 1857 wives were regarded as under the economic and legal protection of their husbands, and divorce was almost impossible. It required a very expensive private Act of Parliament costing perhaps £200, of the sort only the richest could possibly afford. It was very difficult to secure divorce on the grounds of adultery, desertion, or cruelty. The first key legislative victory came with the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which passed over the strenuous opposition of the highly traditional Church of England. The new law made divorce a civil affair of the courts, rather than a Church matter, with a new civil court in London handling all cases. The process was still quite expensive, at about £40, but now became feasible for the middle class. A woman who obtained a judicial separation took the status of a "feme sole", with full control of her own civil rights. Additional amendments came in 1878, which allowed for separations handled by local justices of the peace. The Church of England blocked further reforms until the final breakthrough came with the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.


title: Divorce

text: In Spain, the 1931 Constitution of the Second Spanish Republic for the first time recognised a right to divorce. The first law to regulate divorce was the "Divorce Act of 1932", which passed the Republican Parliament despite the opposition of the Catholic Church and a coalition of the Agrarian Minority and Minority Basque-Navarre Catholic parties. The dictatorship of General Franco abolished the law. After the restoration of democracy, a new divorce law was passed in 1981, again over the opposition of the Catholic Church and part of the Christian Democrat party, then a part of the ruling Union of Democratic Center. During the first socialist government of Felipe González Márquez, the 1981 law was amended to expedite the process of separation and divorce of marriages, which was again opposed by the Church, which called it "express divorce".


title: Divorce

text: In Italy, the first divorce law was introduced on 1 December 1970, despite the opposition of the Christian Democrats, and entered into force on 18 December 1970. In the following years, the Christian Democrats, supported also by parties opposed to the law, promoted a recall referendum. In 1974, in a referendum, the majority of the population voted against a repeal of the divorce law. A feature of the 1970 divorce law was the long period of marital separation of five years required. This period was reduced to three in 1987 and to a year in 2015, in the case of judicial separation, and six months in the case of separation by mutual agreement.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce rates increased markedly during the 20th century in developed countries, as social attitudes towards family and sex changed dramatically. Divorce has become commonplace in some countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.


title: Divorce

text: In the Edo Period (1603–1868), husbands could divorce their wives by writing letters of divorce. Frequently, their relatives or marriage arrangers kept these letters and tried to restore the marriages. Wives could not divorce their husbands. Some wives were able to gain sanctuary in certain Shinto "divorce temples". After a wife had spent three years in a temple, her husband was required to divorce her. In 19th century Japan, at least one in eight marriages ended in divorce.


title: Divorce

text: There are four types of divorce in Japan: divorce by agreement in which the divorce is mutual; divorce by mediation, which happens in family court; divorce by decision of family court that takes place when a couple cannot complete a divorce through mediation; and divorce by judgment of a district court.


title: Divorce

text: On a national level, the Special Marriage Act, passed in 1954, is an inter-religious marriage law permitting Indian nationals to marry and divorce irrespective of their religion or faith. The Hindu Marriage Act, in 1955 which legally permitted divorce to Hindus and other communities who chose to marry under these acts. The Indian Divorce Act 1869 is the law relating to the divorce of person professing the Christian religion. Divorce can be sought by a husband or wife on grounds including adultery, cruelty, desertion for two years, religious conversion, mental abnormality, venereal disease, and leprosy. Divorce is also available based on mutual consent of both the spouses, which can be filed after at least one year of separated living. Mutual consent divorce can not be appealed, and the law mandates a minimum period of six months (from the time divorce is applied for) for divorce to be granted. Contested divorce is when one of the spouse is not willing to divorce the other spouse, under such condition the divorce is granted only on certain grounds according to the Hindu marriage act of 1955. While a Muslim husband can unilaterally bring an end to the marriage by pronouncing talaq, Muslim women must go to court, claiming any of the grounds provided under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act.


title: Divorce

text: In the first major family law reform in the last decade, the Supreme Court of India banned the Islamic practice of "Triple Talaq" (divorce by uttering of the "Talaq" word thrice by the husband). The landmark Supreme Court of India judgment was welcomed by women activists across India.


title: Divorce

text: Official figures of divorce rates are not available, but it has been estimated that 1 in 100 or another figure of 11 in 1,000 marriages in India end up in divorce.


title: Divorce

text: Various communities are governed by specific marital legislation, distinct to Hindu Marriage Act, and consequently have their own divorce laws:


title: Divorce

text: An amendment to the marriage laws to allow divorce based on "irretrievable breakdown of marriage" (as alleged by one of the spouses) is under consideration in India. In June 2010, the Union Cabinet of India approved the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill 2010, which, if cleared by Parliament, would establish "irretrievable breakdown" as a new ground for divorce. Under the proposed amendment, the court before proceeding to the merits of the case must be satisfied by the evidences produced that parties have been living apart for a continuous period of not less than three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some initiated by the husband and some initiated by the wife. The main traditional legal categories are "talaq" (repudiation), "khulʿ" (mutual divorce/annulment), judicial divorce and oaths. The theory and practice of divorce in the Islamic world have varied according to time and place. Historically, the rules of divorce were governed by sharia, as interpreted by traditional Islamic jurisprudence, and they differed depending on the legal school. Historical practice sometimes diverged from legal theory. In modern times, as personal status (family) laws were codified, they generally remained "within the orbit of Islamic law", but control over the norms of divorce shifted from traditional jurists to the state.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce as a means of terminating marriage is illegal for all Filipinos except Filipino Muslims. There is only civil annulment after a lengthy legal separation. The process is costly and long, and there are many legally married couples in extramarital relations, even without a divorce law.


title: Divorce

text: Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines, known as Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1083, Title II- Marriage and Divorce, Chapter 3-Divorce allows for divorce recognized by the state. There are two sharia courts in the Philippine judicial system that hear these cases.


title: Divorce

text: On 27 July 2010, Gabriela Women's Party filed in Congress House Bill No 1799, or the Divorce Bill of the Philippines, as one of many attempts to introduce pro-divorce legislation. Senator Pia Cayetano has filed a separate divorce bill in the Senate. During that time, the Philippines, along with Malta and the Vatican, are the three most conservative countries on the issue of divorce. The bill did not pass any level of legislation because of this.


title: Divorce

text: In a latest attempt, the divorce bill was refiled again in 2017. On 22 February 2018, the House of Representatives committee on population and family relations approved a bill seeking to legalize divorce, the first time in Philippine history for such a measure to pass the committee level of legislation. The majority of the members of the House of Representatives (lower house of Congress), both majority and minority blocs, are in favor of divorce, however, divorce continues to be a divisive issue in the Senate (upper house of Congress), as stark opposition is present among male senators.


title: Divorce

text: Divorce rates increase during times of hardship, war, and major events. Divorce rates increased after World War II because people were quick to marry each other before they went to war. When soldiers returned, they found out that they did not have much in common with their spouses, so they divorced.


title: The Wanted

text: The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Records and Mercury Records, and was managed by Scooter Braun.


title: The Wanted

text: The Wanted's released their debut album, "The Wanted" in 2010. It peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart. and spawned three UK top 20 singles: their debut single, "All Time Low", which topped UK Singles Chart, "Heart Vacancy", which reached number two, and "Lose My Mind", which reached number nineteen. Their follow-up album "Battleground," was released in 2011 and reached number five in the UK and number four in Ireland. The album lead single, "Gold Forever", was released in aid of Comic Relief and peaked at number three in the UK. The third single, "Lightning", hit number two in the UK.


title: The Wanted

text: In early 2012, the Wanted achieved success in the United States and Canada with their single "Glad You Came" which became their second UK number-one. It peaked at number three for four consecutive weeks on the "Billboard" Hot 100, the highest American chart entry by a British boy band at the time. Their follow-up singles "Chasing the Sun" and "I Found You" reached the top spot on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The band's compilation album, "The Wanted" (2012), reached the top 10 on the "Billboard" 200. In 2013, the Wanted starred in their own reality series on E! entitled "The Wanted Life". On 22 January 2014, the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus in order to pursue individual solo projects.


title: The Wanted

text: According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the band has been certified for 600,000 albums and 2.4 million singles in the UK. Their nominations and accolades include 14 World Music Awards, two Brit Awards, an American Music Award, and a MTV Video Music Award. On 8 September 2021, The Wanted had announced that they would be reuniting for a and a performance at a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in support of band member Tom Parker, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer in late 2020. Parker died from the illness on 30 March 2022.


title: The Wanted

text: The Wanted were formed in 2009 through mass auditions held by Jayne Collins, who also put together the Saturdays and Parade. The audition process, which saw more than 1,000 people attend, took over nine months. Just George, Parker and Sykes were involved at the start, and Kaneswaran and McGuiness joined later through the process. The group revealed in their autobiography that after they were informed of the line-up, seven more people were re-auditioned before they were signed to Maximum Artist Management and Geffen Records.


title: The Wanted

text: The group were credited with co-writing five of the thirteen tracks on the album. On 25 July 2010, they released their debut single, "All Time Low". The song was co-written by Steve Mac (who also produced it), Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett. It hit number one in the UK and spent 17 weeks in the UK top 40. The second single "Heart Vacancy", again written with Hector, was released on 17 October 2010. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The group's third single from the album was "Lose My Mind", which reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart following a performance on "The X Factor". The group's eponymous debut album was released on 25 October 2010 and peaked at number four in the UK and has since been certified Platinum in the UK. Between 28 March and 15 April 2010, the group embarked on the fifteen-date Behind Bars theatre tour, which saw them play in twelve UK cities. They were supported by Lawson, Twenty Twenty and Starboy Nathan.


title: The Wanted

text: In January 2011, the group began to work on their second studio album. The album featured writing credits from the band members on ten of the fifteen tracks, and contributions from Steve Mac, Wayne Hector, Ed Drewett, Diane Warren and Guy Chambers. The album's lead single, "Gold Forever", was released in aid of Comic Relief and debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart. In July 2011, the group released the album's second single, "Glad You Came", which became their second number-one single. It was number one for two weeks, and stayed in the top ten of the chart for six weeks. The single also reached number one in Ireland and remained there for five weeks. The song also charted in some European territories, and was very successful in Australia. The third single from the album, "Lightning", was released on 16 October 2011, peaking at number 2 in the UK and number 5 in Ireland. The fourth single, "Warzone", was released on 26 December 2011, with the music video and radio debut coming in early November 2011. On 7 November 2011, the group's second album "Battleground" was released. It debuted at number 5 in the UK and number 4 in Ireland. It has since been certified Platinum in the UK. In addition to shows in the United Kingdom, including T4 on the Beach, V Festival, and the iTunes Festival, the group supported Canadian singer Justin Bieber in Brazil on 8 and 9 October 2011 and Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale Tour at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 6 November 2011.


title: The Wanted

text: Between 15 February and 9 March 2012, the group embarked on "The Code" tour, to promote the release of the album. The 16-date arena tour saw the group play in thirteen cities in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Known as #TheCodeTour, each concert featured an interactive element that linked to the group's official Facebook and Twitter pages.


title: The Wanted

text: In a bid to break into the United States market, the Wanted went on a short promotional radio and club tour of the United States, touring between 17 January to 8 February 2012. The success of the 10-date tour led to the group's official release of their debut American single, "Glad You Came". It peaked at number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and has since sold over 3 million copies there. Their debut American EP, "The Wanted: The EP", was released in April 2012, debuting at number seven in the US and number eight in Canada. "Chasing the Sun" was released as the band's second official single there, peaking at number 50 on the "Billboard"Hot 100 whilst also reaching number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "Chasing the Sun" was released on 21 May 2012. On 22 May 2012, the band opened and performed at the first Q102's Springle Ball concert. On 14 June 2012 the band performed a concert at New York City's Beacon Theater, which was also broadcast live on music television station Fuse. The group visited Australia and New Zealand for the promotion of their extended play in August 2012. Following their promotional tour of Australia, the group headed to the US for a number of promotional concerts.


title: The Wanted

text: The Wanted began working on their third studio album shortly after the release of "Battleground" on 4 November 2011. In May 2012, "Chasing the Sun" was released as the album's lead single, and the third single from the band's "The Wanted: The EP" in the United States. Around this time, the band also premiered a brand new track called "Satellite", which was co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. In August 2012, the band filmed a music video in Los Angeles, reportedly for their brand new single, "I Found You". However, when the video for "I Found You" was released in October 2012, it was a different one. The band later revealed that they had reshot the video in London, not being satisfied with the first one. The original was later released as the "fan version" on Vevo. "I Found You" was released on 5 November 2012 as the album's second single. The band confirmed in September 2012 that the album would contain a number of collaborations, including tracks with Pitbull, LMFAO, Chris Brown, Rita Ora and Dappy. In November 2012, the band announced that the album had been pushed back from the original release of 3 December 2012 to February 2013 at their request; the reason stated for this delay was to perfect the album, and "tweak out a few insecurities involving certain tracks". It was confirmed that the album would feature a track co-written by fellow label-mate Justin Bieber.


title: The Wanted

text: In early February 2013, it was announced that the Wanted would star in their own reality series called "The Wanted Life", produced by Ryan Seacrest. In the United States, it premiered on E! on 2 June 2013. In April 2013, the band announced the release of the third single from their third album, titled "Walks Like Rihanna", named after Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on 23 June 2013 and debuted and peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. On 9 September 2013, the band announced that their new album "Word of Mouth" would be released on 4 November. It was preceded by the release of "We Own the Night" and "Show Me Love (America)". On 25 July 2013 the group was spoken to by police after champagne was thrown out of a hotel window, soaking poet Todd Swift. A police statement said "Police were called at around 12.20pm on Thursday, July 25, to a report of a man having been verbally threatened and having had a liquid substance thrown over him at a hotel in Marylebone." On 7 October 2013, it was announced that the Wanted would embark on their first world tour, the Word of Mouth World Tour, in 2014. The tour included shows in the UK, mainland Europe, the US, and Canada.


title: The Wanted

text: The band originally announced in January 2014 that they were taking a hiatus in order to pursue individual solo projects. In a 2014 interview with "The Sun", George stated that part of the group's reasoning for taking a hiatus was due to the success of One Direction, saying "One Direction are a phenomenon that no one else can compete with. They’ve taken over the market. We have our own fans, who we love, but we couldn’t stop things from happening". Parker later echoed George's statements in an interview with Digital Spy, stating "For The Wanted to try and compete against one of the biggest bands in the world ... it's almost impossible. I don't think any band out there can compete with them at the moment".


title: The Wanted

text: Since 2020, the band had been teasing a reunion. On 5 September 2021, it was reported that a reunion would be officially announced on 8 September, with new music and performances announced, including raising money for cancer charities in support of band member Tom Parker, who was diagnosed with an inoperable stage 4 glioblastoma in late 2020.


title: The Wanted

text: On 8 September 2021, it was announced that the band would return with a greatest hits album titled "", set to be released on 8 November. The album would also include new music. Additionally, the band were set to perform at a charity concert by Tom Parker titled "Inside My Head – The Concert" at the Royal Albert Hall on 20 September 2021, the band's first performance together in seven years. The concert raised money for the cancer charities Stand Up to Cancer and The National Brain Appeal.


title: The Wanted

text: On 13 October 2021, the band released "Rule The World", co-written by Max George, their first single in seven years. This was closely followed by their greatest hits album, "Most Wanted: The Greatest Hits", on 12 November 2021, which included another new song titled "Colours", co-written by Nathan Sykes, alongside all the fan favourites and some newly recorded acoustic tracks. Their Christmas single, a cover of East 17's "Stay Another Day", was released 5 November 2021 and also features on the deluxe version of "Most Wanted". An acoustic cover of "Remember" by Becky Hill and David Guetta was released as the first promotional single off the album.


title: The Wanted

text: They kicked off their twelve-date "Most Wanted: The Greatest Hits Tour" on 3 March 2022 in Glasgow, which saw them travel up and down the UK performing to all their fans before finishing on 17 March 2022, in Liverpool. They were joined by special guest HRVY across all twelve dates. The band teamed up with the iPledge charity, where they donated £1 from every single ticket sale in aid of The Brain Tumour Charity.


title: The Wanted

text: Parker died on 30 March 2022, as stated by his wife. The band's single "Gold Forever" surged in sales and streams following the announcement, and the song debuted at number 2 on the UK Official Singles Sales Top 100 on 1 April 2022. On 27 April 2022, The Wanted released a new version of the song, titled "Gold Forever (For Tom)" in tribute. All proceeds of the single sales will be donated to The Brain Tumour Charity.


title: The Wanted

text: The group run a weekly online podcast, "#WantedWednesday", featuring backstage footage, social activities and exclusive performances.


title: The Wanted

text: In 2012, the group launched an interactive fan site titled "Wanted World", where the fans can get exclusive access to new videos, merchandise, VIP tour tickets, and live web chats. Platinum membership costs £100 per year and gold membership £40 per year. Since 2013, fans have been able to buy a £5 monthly membership that gives them the same access as gold membership.


title: The Wanted

text: The Behind Bars Tour was the band's first theatre tour which sold out within weeks of going on sale. It began on 26 March 2011 and concluded on until 15 April. The tour featured 12 different cities with a total of sixteen dates.


title: The Wanted

text: It was announced on Friday 16 December 2011 that the group would embark on their first US tour, with 10 dates to be held over January and February 2012.


title: The Wanted

text: The Wanted announced that they would embark on their first arena tour across the UK and Ireland in February and March 2012. Known as the Code Tour and T.W.A.T., each concert featured an interactive element that links to their official Facebook and Twitter pages.


title: LOL

text: LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO ("laughing my ass off") and ROFL or ROTFL ("rolling on the floor laughing"). Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly obsolete "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.


title: LOL

text: The list of acronyms "grows by the month" (said Peter Hershock in 2003), and they are collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries that are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication. These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.


title: LOL

text: In the 1980s, Wayne Pearson is reportedly the first person to have used LOL while responding to a friend's joke in the pre-Internet digital chat room called Viewline. Instead of writing "hahaha," as he had done before when he found something funny, Pearson unknowingly made history by typing "LOL."


title: LOL

text: Silvio Laccetti (professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology) and Scott Molski, in their essay entitled "The Lost Art of Writing", are critical of the terms, predicting reduced chances of employment for students who use such slang, stating that, "Unfortunately for these students, their bosses will not be 'lol' when they read a report that lacks proper punctuation and grammar, has numerous misspellings, various made-up words, and silly acronyms." Fondiller and Nerone in their style manual assert that "professional or business communication should never be careless or poorly constructed" whether one is writing an electronic mail message or an article for publication, and warn against the use of smileys and abbreviations, stating that they are "no more than e-mail slang and have no place in business communication".


title: LOL

text: Linguist John McWhorter stated, "Lol is being used in a particular way. It's a marker of empathy. It's a marker of accommodation. We linguists call things like that pragmatic particles…" Pragmatic particles are the words and phrases utilized to alleviate the awkward areas in casual conversation, such as "oh" in "Oh, I don’t know" and "uh" when someone is thinking of something to say. McWhorter stated that "lol" is utilized less as a reaction to something that is hilarious, but rather as a way to lighten the conversation.


title: LOL

text: Frank Yunker and Stephen Barry, in a study of online courses and how they can be improved through podcasting, have found that these slang terms, and emoticons as well, are "often misunderstood" by students and are "difficult to decipher" unless their meanings are explained in advance. They single out the example of "ROFL" as not obviously being the abbreviation of "rolling on "the" floor laughing" (emphasis added). Matt Haig singles out LOL as one of the three most popular initialisms in Internet slang, alongside BFN ("bye for now") and IMHO ("in my honest/humble opinion"). He describes the various initialisms of Internet slang as convenient, but warns that "as ever more obscure acronyms emerge they can also be rather confusing". Hossein Bidgoli likewise states that these initialisms "save keystrokes for the sender but [...] might make comprehension of the message more difficult for the receiver" and that "[s]lang may hold different meanings and lead to misunderstandings especially in international settings"; he advises that they be used "only when you are sure that the other person knows the meaning".


title: LOL

text: Tim Shortis observes that ROFL is a means of "annotating text with stage directions". Peter Hershock, in discussing these terms in the context of performative utterances, points out the difference between "telling" someone that one is laughing out loud and actually laughing out loud: "The latter response is a straightforward action. The former is a self-reflexive representation of an action: I not only do something but also show you that I am doing it. Or indeed, I may not actually laugh out loud but may use the locution 'LOL' to communicate my appreciation of your attempt at humor."


title: LOL

text: David Crystal notes that use of LOL is not necessarily genuine, just as the use of smiley faces or grins is not necessarily genuine, posing the rhetorical question "How many people are actually 'laughing out loud' when they send LOL?". Louis Franzini concurs, stating that there is as yet no research that has determined the percentage of people who are actually laughing out loud when they write LOL.


title: LOL

text: Victoria Clarke, in her analysis of telnet talkers, states that capitalization is important when people write LOL, and that "a user who types "LOL" may well be laughing louder than one who types "lol"", and opines that "these standard expressions of laughter are losing force through overuse". Michael Egan describes LOL, ROFL, and other initialisms as helpful so long as they are not overused. He recommends against their use in business correspondence because the recipient may not be aware of their meanings, and because in general neither they nor emoticons are in his view appropriate in such correspondence. June Hines Moore shares that view. So, too, does Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, who gives the same advice of not using them in business correspondence, "or you won't be LOL".


title: LOL

text: On March 24, 2011, LOL, along with other acronyms, was formally recognized in an update of the "Oxford English Dictionary". In their research, it was determined that the earliest recorded use of LOL as an initialism was for "little old lady" in the 1960s. They also discovered that the oldest written record of the use of LOL in the contemporary meaning of "Laughing Out Loud" was from a message typed by Wayne Pearson in the 1980s, from the archives of Usenet.


title: LOL

text: A 2003 study of college students by Naomi Baron found that the use of these initialisms in computer-mediated communication (CMC), specifically in instant messaging, was actually "lower" than she had expected. The students "used few abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons". Out of 2,185 transmissions, there were 90 initialisms in total; 76 were occurrences of "LOL".


title: LOL

text: "LOL", "ROFL", and other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. David Crystal—likening the introduction of "LOL", "ROFL", and others into spoken language in magnitude to the revolution of Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type in the 15th century—states that this is "a brand new variety of language evolving", invented by young people within five years, that "extend[s] the range of the language, the expressiveness [and] the richness of the language". However Geoffrey K. Pullum argues that even if interjections such as "LOL" and "ROFL" were to become very common in spoken English, their "total effect on language" would be "utterly trivial".


title: LOL

text: In some languages with a non-Latin script, the abbreviation LOL itself is also often transliterated. See for example Arabic لول and Russian лол.


title: LOL

text: Pre-dating the Internet and phone texting by a century, the way to express laughter in morse code is "hi hi". The sound of this in morse ('di-di-di-dit di-dit, di-di-di-dit di-dit') is thought to represent chuckling.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: is the 11th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 257,141 in 2020, the city is also the 86th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically and geographically as the Llano Estacado, and ecologically is part of the southern end of the High Plains, lying at the economic center of the Lubbock metropolitan area, which has an estimated population of 327,424 in 2020.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Lubbock's nickname, "Hub City," derives from it being the economic, educational, and health-care hub of the multicounty region, north of the Permian Basin and south of the Texas Panhandle, commonly called the South Plains. The area is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world and is heavily dependent on water from the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: As of 1867, the land that would become Lubbock was the heart of Comancheria, the shifting domain controlled by the Comanche.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Lubbock County was founded in 1876. It was named after Thomas Saltus Lubbock, former Texas Ranger and brother of Francis Lubbock, governor of Texas during the Civil War. As early as 1884, a U.S. post office existed in Yellow House Canyon. A small town, known as Old Lubbock, Lubbock, or North Town, was established about three miles to the east. In 1890, the original Lubbock merged with Monterey, another small town south of the canyon. The new town adopted the Lubbock name. The merger included moving the original Lubbock's Nicolett Hotel across the canyon on rollers to the new townsite. Lubbock became the county seat in 1891, and was incorporated on March 16, 1909. In the same year, the first railroad train arrived.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) was founded in Lubbock in 1923. A separate university, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, opened as Texas Tech University School of Medicine in 1969. Both universities are now overseen by the Texas Tech University System, after it was established in 1996 and based in Lubbock. Lubbock Christian University, founded in 1957, and Sunset International Bible Institute, both affiliated with the Churches of Christ, have their main campuses in the city. South Plains College and Wayland Baptist University operate branch campuses in Lubbock.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: At one time, Lubbock was home to Reese Air Force Base, located west of the city. It was established in August 1941, during the defense build-up prior to World War II (1941–1945), by the United States Department of War and the U.S. Army as Lubbock Army Airfield. It served the old U.S. Army Air Forces, and later the U.S. Air Force (USAF), after reorganization and establishment in 1947. The USAF base's primary mission throughout its existence was pilot training. The base was closed 30 September 1997, after being selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1995, and is now a research and business park called Reese Technology Center.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: The city is home to the Lubbock Lake Landmark, part of the Museum of Texas Tech University. The landmark is an archaeological and natural-history preserve at the northern edge of the city. It shows evidence of almost 12,000 years of human occupation in the region. The National Ranching Heritage Center, also part of the Museum of Texas Tech University, houses historic ranch-related structures from the region.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: During World War II, airmen cadets from the Royal Air Force, flying from their training base at Terrell, Texas, routinely flew to Lubbock on training flights. The town served as a stand-in for the British for Cork, Ireland, which was the same distance from London, England, as Lubbock is from Terrell.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: In August 1951, a V-shaped formation of lights was seen over the city. The "Lubbock Lights" series of sightings received national publicity and is regarded as one of the first great "UFO" cases. The sightings were considered credible because they were witnessed by several respected science professors at Texas Technological College and were photographed by a Texas Tech student. The photographs were reprinted nationwide in newspapers and in "Life". Project Blue Book, the USAF's official investigation of the UFO mystery, concluded the photographs were not a hoax and showed genuine objects, but dismissed the UFOs as being either "night-flying moths" or a type of bird called a plover reflected in the nighttime glow of Lubbock's new street lights.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: On May 11, 1970, the Lubbock Tornado struck the city. Twenty-six people died, and damage was estimated at $125 million. The Metro Tower (NTS Building), then known as the Great Plains Life Building, at in height, is believed to have been the tallest building ever to survive a direct hit from an F5 tornado. Then-mayor Jim Granberry and the Lubbock City Council, which included Granberry's successor as mayor, Morris W. Turner, were charged with directing the rebuilding of downtown Lubbock in the aftermath of the storm.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: In 2009, Lubbock celebrated its centennial. The historians Paul H. Carlson, Donald R. Abbe, and David J. Murrah co-authored "Lubbock and the South Plains."


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: On August 12, 2008, the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce announced they would lead the effort to get enough signatures to have a vote on allowing county-wide packaged alcohol sales. The petition effort was successful and the question was put to the voters. On May 9, 2009, Proposition 1, which expanded the sale of packaged alcohol in Lubbock County, passed by a margin of nearly two to one, with 64.5% in favor. Proposition 2, which legalized the sale of mixed drinks in restaurants county-wide, passed with 69.5% in favor. On September 23, 2009, The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission issued permits to more than 80 stores in Lubbock. Prior to May 9, 2009, Lubbock County allowed "package" sales of alcohol (sales of bottled liquor from liquor stores), but not "by the drink" sales, except at private establishments such as country clubs. Inside the city limits, the situation was reversed, with restaurants and bars able to serve alcohol, but liquor stores forbidden.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: After news broke about Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas hiring for a Lubbock location, Senator Charles Perry started a petition to keep Planned Parenthood out of Lubbock. On September 9, 2020 Senator Perry held a press conference with Representative Dustin Burrows and Representative John Frullo in support of Lubbock becoming a "sanctuary city for the unborn" through the passage of an ordinance, written by anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, which would outlaw abortion within the city limits. On November 17, 2020, the Lubbock City Council voted 7-0 against the ordinance outlawing abortion, leading the "sanctuary city for the unborn" initiating committee to file for the ordinance to be placed on the May ballot. Planned Parenthood began performing abortions on April 15, 2021 with early voting taking place on April 19, 2021. On May 1st, 2021 the citizens of Lubbock voted on the ordinance with 62% in favor and 38% against, becoming the largest "sanctuary city for the unborn" in the nation. Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the ordinance from going into effect, but lost their case after the ordinance went into effect on June 1, 2021 and a federal judge dismissed the case. Planned Parenthood later appealed the decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, but in January 2022 withdrew their appeal.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Lubbock is considered to be the center of the Llano Estacado portion of the South Plains, with Midland on the southern edge, and Amarillo denoting the northern boundary. According to the United States Census Bureau, as of 2010, the city has a total area of , of which, of it (99.07%) are land and , or (0.93%), is covered by water. The population density was 1,875.6 people per square mile (724.2/km).


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Lubbock has a cool semi-arid climate Köppen classification "BSk"). On average, Lubbock receives of rain and of snow per year.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Summers are hot, with 92 afternoons on average of + highs and 13.3 afternoons of + highs, with lows of + on 30 mornings. Lubbock is the 10th-windiest city in the US with an average wind speed of . The highest recorded temperature was on June 27, 1994.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Winter afternoons in Lubbock are typically sunny and mild, but mornings are cold, with temperatures usually dipping below freezing, and as the city is in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7, lows reaching occur on 1.5 mornings and 4.5 afternoons occur where the temperature fails to rise above freezing. The lowest recorded temperature was on February 8, 1933.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Lubbock can experience severe thunderstorms during the spring, and occasionally the summer. The risk of tornadoes and very large hail exists during the spring in particular, as Lubbock sits on the far southwestern edge of Tornado Alley.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: The 2019 American Community Survey's demographic and housing estimates program determined Lubbock had a population of 258,870, a slight increase over the U.S. Census Bureau's population estimate of 258,862. At the 2010 United States census, 229,573 people, 88,506 households, and 53,042 families resided in the city. At the 2000 U.S. census, 199,564 people, 77,527 households, and 48,531 families resided in the city. By 2020, its population grew to 257,141, down from the 2019 census estimates.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Of the population in 2019, 125,685 were male and 133,185 were female. There were 94.4 males per 100 females in the city limits. In 2019, the median age was 29.8 years; according to Move.org in 2016, Lubbock and its metropolitan area was the 6th best for residents aged 20 and older. The Lubbock area was also first in Texas for Millennial home-ownership, and 14th in the U.S. in 2020. The median value of owner-occupied housing units were $152,800 and the gross rent for Lubbock was $976. Lubbockites had a median household income of $52,254 in 2019, and a mean income of $72,144.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: In 2011, the estimated median income for a household in the city was $43,364, and for a family was $59,185. Male full-time workers had a median income of $40,445 versus $30,845 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,092. About 11.4% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.5% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over. The city's median household income in 2000 was $31,844, and for the median family income was $41,418. Males had a median income of $30,222 versus $21,708 for females. The city's per capita income was $17,511. About 12.0% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.9% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: In 2019, Lubbock had a racial and ethnic makeup of 50.1% non-Hispanic whites, 7.1% Blacks and African Americans, 0.3% American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2.6% Asians, <0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.1% some other race, and 2.4% two or more races. The Hispanic and Latino American population (of any race) was an estimated 37.4% of the total population. For comparison and contrast in 2020, the racial and ethnic makeup of the city was 47.58% non-Hispanic white, 9.57% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American or Alaska Native, 3.59% Asian alone, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.32% some other race, 2.81% multiracial, and 35.6% Hispanic or Latino American of any race. The diversifying population reflected state- and nationwide trends among traditional minority populations.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: In 2010, the racial makeup of the city was 75.8% White, 8.6% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 9.9% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latin Americans of any race were 32.1% of the population. Non-Hispanic whites were 55.7% of the population in 2010, down from 77.2% in 1970. In 2000, the city's racial makeup was 72.9% White, 8.7% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.5% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 14.3% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 27.5% of the population.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Christianity is the dominant religion in Lubbock and its metropolitan area, being part of the Bible Belt. As of 2020, the largest Christian groups were Baptists, followed by the Catholic Church and Methodism. The largest Baptist denominations within the Lubbock area are the Southern Baptist Convention and Baptist General Convention of Texas. Catholics within the metropolitan area are primarily served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lubbock. Methodists are divided between the United Methodist Church and other smaller Methodist bodies. Of the religious population, 1.9% practiced Islam; the Islamic religion is the second largest in the area as of 2020. Eastern faiths including Buddhism and Hinduism were collectively the third largest groups in Lubbock, and Judaism was practiced by an estimated 0.1% of the population.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: The Lubbock area is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world and is heavily dependent on federal government agricultural subsidies and on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer. The aquifer is being depleted at a rate unsustainable over the long term. Much progress has been made toward water conservation, and new technologies such as low-energy precision application irrigation were originally developed in the Lubbock area. A new pipeline from Lake Alan Henry is expected to supply up to of water per year.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: Adolph R. Hanslik, who died in 2007 at the age of 90, was called the "dean" of the Lubbock cotton industry, having worked for years to promote the export trade. Hanslik was also the largest contributor (through 2006) to the Texas Tech University Medical Center. He also endowed the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center's capital campaign for construction of a new library museum archives building in La Grange in Fayette County in his native southeastern Texas.


title: Lubbock, Texas

text: The 10 largest employers in terms of the number of employees are Texas Tech University, Covenant Health System, Lubbock Independent School District, University Medical Center, United Supermarkets, City of Lubbock, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, AT&T, and Lubbock County. A study conducted by a professor at the Rawls College of Business determined Texas Tech students, faculty, and staff contribute about $1.5 billion to the economy, with about $297.5 million from student shopping alone.