Data from the

NATIONAL VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEM

Series 21

Number 24

100Yearsof

Marriage and DivorceStatistics

UnitedStates, 1867-1967

Analysis of marriage and divorce statistics for the period 1867-1967,

including information on data collection procedures throughout the

100 years, time trends in national and area totals and rates, and characteristics of marriages and divorces.

DHEW Publication No. (HRA) 74-1902

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

Public Health Service

Health Resources Administration

National Center for Health Statistics

Rockville, Md. December 1973
Vital and Health Statistics-Series 21-No. 24

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing office, Washington, D.C. 20402-Price 90cents
NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS

EDWARD B. PERRIN, Ph. D., Acting Director

PHILIP S. LAWRENCE, SC.D., Deputy Director

GAIL F. FISHER, Assistant Director for Health Statistics Devekprnent

WALT R. SIMMONS, M. A., Assistant Director for Research and Scientific Development

JOHN J. HANLON, M. D., Medical Advisor

JAMES E. KELLY, D. D. S., Dental Advisor

EDWARD E. MINTY, Executive Officer

ALICE HAYWOOD, Information Officer

DIVISION OF VITAL STATISTICS

ROBERT A. ISRAEL, M. S., Director

JOHN E. PATTERSON, Assistant Director for Demographic Afltiirs

ALICE M. HETZEL, Chief Marriage and Divorce Statistics Branch

Vital and Health Statistics-Series 21-No. 24

DHEW Publication No. (HRA) 74-1302

Library of Congress Catalog Curd Number 73-600233
CONTENTS

A Century of Data -----------------------------------------------------

Data CoUection -----------------------------------------------------

Type of Information Collected ----------------------------------------

Time Trends in Totals andRates ----------------------------------------

National Totals of MarriagesandDivorces-:---------------------------

National Marriage Rates ---------------------------------------------

National Divorce Rates ----------------------------------------------

Area Totalsof MarriagesandDivorces --------- -----------------------

Area MarriageRates ------------------------------------------------

Area Divorce Rates -------------------------------------------------

Characteristics of Marrbges -------------------------------------------

Characteristics of Divorces --------------------------------------------

Duration of Marriage Prior toDecree ---------------------------------

Duration ofSeparation -----------------------------------------------

Place of Marriage --------------------------------------------------

Children of theDivorced ---------------------------------------------

Legal Gromds -----------------------------------------------------

Party to Whom Decree was Granted ----------------------------------

Other kgalVariables -----------------------------------------------

Personal Characteristics ----------------------------------------------

References -----------------------------------------------------------

List of DetailedTables -------------------------------------------------

Appendix I. Bibliography of Marriage and Divorce Statistical Studies Publishedby the FederalGovemment --------------------------------------

Appendix 11. Sources and Methods -------------------------------------

Sources -----------------------------------------------------------

National Totals andRates --------------------------------------------

Area Totals --------------------------------------------------------

Area Rates --------------------------------------------------------

Changing Areas ----------------------------------------------------

Selected Years -----------------------------------------------------

LegalGrounds ------------------------------------------------------

Page

1

1

4

6

6

7

9

10

11

12

13

14

14

15

17

17

17

19

19

20

20

21

.56

59

59

59

59

59

61

61

61

...

111
SYMBOLS

Data not available ----------------------- ---

Category not applicable ------------------ . . .

Quantity zero --------------------------- ,-

Quantity more than Obutless than 0.05---- 0.0

Figure does not meet standardsof

reliability or precision ------------------ *
100 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND

DIVORCE STATISTICS: 1867-1967

Alexander A. Plateris, Ph.D., Division of T%W Statistics

A CENTURY OF DATA

Data Collection

The history of marriage and divorce statistics

in the United States ‘is long and varied. The first

year for which national marriage and divorce data

are available is 1867; thus we possess statistics on family formation and disruption for a

period covering over .100 years. Methods of

collecting data changed considerably during that

period.

The first collection was ordered by Congress

in response to petitions from leaders in the fields

of religion, law, and education who were concerned

with the confusion and lack of uniformity in the

divorce records in the United States. Legislation

adopted on March 3, 1887, directed the Commissioner of Labor to collect statistics on

marriages and divorces occurring in all States

and territories during a period of 20 years,

1867-86. The results of the investigation were

published in 1889 in the form of a 1,074-page

book entitled A Report on Mdwiage and Divorce

in the United States, 1867 to 1886.1 This report

was signed by Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner

of Labor, and is occasionally referred to as the

“Wright Report.”

Information was collected by special agents

of the Department of Labor$ who visited the

courts empowered to grant divorces and gathered

data from their records. An exception was made

for courts in small or distant areas, from which

returns by mail were obtained. It was found that

2,624 courts granted divorces, and information

was obtained from practically all of them except

in cases w~ere records had been destroyed by

“ fire or flood.

Marriage statistics were much less complete.

“ For the whole period 1867-86 no marriage data

were received from Maine and South Carolina.

The reporting from most other States was so poor

that annual totals were prepared for only 14

States (Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas,

Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,

New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island,

Vermont, and Wisconsin), as well as the District

of Columbia. The incompletenesss of marriage

data was due to the inadequacy of State laws

governing marriage licenses. The Wright Report

stated “Licenses are granted on various bases and

under various conditions, and there is little

compulsory law relative to the returns of marriages celebrated....Marriage may take place

either under license or publication of bans...” ~

Commissioner Wright said further, “Only a very

few States make marriage registration compulsory. In some of the older States, where the law

has for years provided for State registration, I am

informed authoritatively that the number of marriages returned will fall short at least 10 per cent

of the number of marriages celebrated.” 3

In the years 1902-05 the President and

Congress again received many petitions requesting the legislation authorizing a second collection

of marriage and divorce data, and on January

30, 1905, President Thecdore Roosevelt sent a

special message to Congress indicating the need

for such legislation and stating that the Director

of the Census should be authorized to collect

and publish statistics for the years 1887-1906.

A congressional resolution to that effect was

approved on February 9, 1905. The results of

the second data collection were published by the

Bureau of the Census in a two-volume report

entitled Maw&zge and Divcrrce, 1867-1906.4

1
The method of collecting data in 1907 was

very similar to that used in 1887. Special agents

of the Bureau of the Census gathered this information, except for data returns from 765

small and remote counties, which were sent in

by mail. In 1906 there were 2,844 counties or

equivalent areas in the United States. Information

on marriages was obtained from all but the 41

counties in South Carolina and 28 local areas in

other States; information on divorceswas obtained

from all but six local areas.

The second data collection was considered

highly satisfactory, and it was decided to repeat

the collection each decade; the entire 10-year

period was to be covered. The next collection

was scheduled to take place in 1917 and to cover

the years 1907-16. However, by 1917 the United

States had entered World War I, and though the

1917 collection took place as scheduled, it was

limited to data for 1916. The statistics were

published by the Bureau of the Census in Ma?wiagw

and Divorce, 1916. s

Shortly after World War I the collection and

publication of marriage and divorce statistics

was resumed on an annual basis. For each year

1922-32 the Bureau of the Census published an

annual pamphlet, Marnizge and Divorce. In

the 1926 and later issues annulment statistics

were included, tabulated separately from divorce

data. The publication of these annual reports was

discontinued during the Depression as an austerity measure. For years when data were not

collected, 1907-15 and 1917-21, national marriage and divorce totals were estimated by

the Bureau of the Census from the available

State totals.

During the years 1916 and 1922-32 nearly all

areas reported divorces; data from a growing

number of States were o“btained from statewide

central files. Divorces were reported from central

files by three States (Nebraska, New Jersey, and

Wisconsin) in 1916 and by 16 (Alabama, Arkansas,

Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan,

Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New

Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia,

and Wisconsin) in 1931. The number of States

centrally reporting marriages increased by three

during the 1916-31 period and included 30 States

in 1931--the 16 States with central files of

divorces and 14 others (California, Connecticut,

Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wyoming).

Marriage data for South Carolina were obtained

for the first time in 1922; divorce data for South

Carolina were not published until 1950 as all

laws pertaining to divorce were repealed in

1878 and no divorces were granted in that State

during the years 1879-1948.

No marriage or divorce information whatsoever was collected for the years 1933-36. National

totals for these years were estimated by S. F.

Stouffer and L. M. Spencer from data available

from selected States. These estimates were

published in the Amevican Jownd of Sociology

January 1939 issue,G

When the publication of the Mawiage and

Divorce yearbooks was discontinued, the first

period in the collection of statistics came to an

end. It was characterized by nationwide data

limited to variables available on the records of

local and State offices. When data collection was

resumed, demographically important item,s were

emphasized, and they were obtained from limited

numbers of States. During the first period most

collected information referred to divorces; afterward most attention was given to marriages. A

marriage-collection area was established analogous to the present marriage-registration area,

and the first publication gave 1939 data from 25

States and the District of Columbia: Alabama,

Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware,

Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon,, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,

West Virginia, and Wisconsin. New York and

Rhode Island were added in 1940.

There were seven publications on marriages

occurring in the marriage-collection area in

1939 and 1940. In addition, there was one publication on 1939 divorces in the divorce-collection

area. Twelve States were included in that area:

Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan,

Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon,, South

Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin. All these reports appeared in the series Vital Statistics—

Special Repovts. In addition to detailed statistics

for collection areas, totals for the United States

and each State were published in this series,

2
including marriages performed during 1937-40,

divorces granted during. the same period, and

totals for both marriages and divorces for 8 years,

1937-45. Historical statistics for the .50-year

period 1887-1937 were published in 1940.

World War II interrupted for a few years the

data collection, except for totals, and the marriage- and divorce-collection areas disappeared.

The collection of marriage and divorce data was

transferred from the Bureau of the Census to

the newly formed National Office of Vital Statistics in the Public HeaIth Service. Publication of

marriage and divorce data in the series Vitul

Statistics4pec&al Reports was resumed with the

1946 data, and one or more reports were published

annually through 1957 data. Since 1946 marriage

and divorce statistics have also been published

in the annual volumes Vitul Statistics of the

United States published by the National Office of

Vital Statistics and later by the National Center

for Health Statistics. (Annulments were included

with divorces.) Data in both these sources were

from varying numbers of reporting States, except

for national, State, and county totals, which were

almost complete. In addition, two reports dealt

with detailed marriage data from a single area—

one with Georgia, where information about the

education of bride and groom was collected, the

other with the District of Columbia.

During the same period a new source of

information was utilized: the Current Population

Surveys of the Bureau of the Census. Data on

characteristics of newly married persons were

gathered and published in several reports. It

must be noted, however, that marriage totals

obtained from Current Population Surveys were

drastically smaller than those obtained from

vital registration. Thus according to vital registration data 5,324,700 couples were married in

the United States from January 1955 through June

1958, but the survey found only 3,692,000 such

couples.7

For the collection of detailed statistics the

marriage-registration area (MRA) was established in 1957 and the divorce-registration area

(DRA) in 1958. The former originally included 28

States, all of New York State except New York

City, and four outlying areas; the latter included

14 States and three outlying areas. By 1967 the

number of States had increased to 38 and the

District of Columbia for the MRA and 22 for the

DRA.

When the MR4 was organized the following

States were included: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa,

Kansas, Louisiana (including the independent

registration area of New Orleans), Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York (excluding New York

City), Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,

South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Also in the MRA

were the outlying areas Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto

Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In 1957 Nebraska was

added; in 1959 Kentucky was added and Alaska

became a State; in 1960 data for- Hawaii were

included with the United States; in 1961 the

District of Columbia, Indiana, and Massachusetts

were added; in 1964, Illinois and North Carolina;

and in 1965, West Virginia and New York ,City.

The DRA, when organized in 1958, included

Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

as well as Alaska, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands.

Between 1958 and 1967 the number of States

in the 13RA increased to 22; Alaska and Hawaii

were included among the States in 1959 and 1960,

respectively, and the following States were admitted: Kansas (1959), Maryland (1959), Michigan

(1961), Missouri (1961), Ohio (1962), and Rhode

Island (1963).

Since 1960 detailed data have been compiled

from samples of marriage and divorce records

from the respective registration areas. The first

sample collection, that of 1960, included selected

counties outside the two registration areas, making it possible to obtain estimates for the United

States and the four regions. Thus 1960 is the only

data year since 1932 for which national data other

than totals are available. In addition to the sample,

State totals by county (and, for marriages, also

by month) were obtained from every State; from

these data national totals were compiled. Marriage

and divorce statistics for 1960 and subsequent

years were published in Vital Statistics of the

United States, Volume HI, and analytical reports,

in Vitul and Health Statistics, Series 21. Marriage

and divorce statistics for the outlying areas of

Alaska before 1959, Hawaii before 1960, and the

3
Virgin Islands and marriage statistics for Puerto

Rico were published in Vital Statistics of the

United States. The publication of data for outlying

areas was temporarily discontinued in 1966.

Provisional figures on marriages or marriage licenses have been published since 1944;

since 1949 they have been published on a monthly

basis. Provisional monthly divorce totals have

been published since 1950 for a growing number

of reporting States; 40 States and the District of

Columbia reported in 1967.

Type of Information Collected

Nationwide data for 1932 and earlier years are

based on information gathered routinely by local

clerks and courts for the purpose of issuing

marriage licenses and in court proceedings of

divorce cases; no special information was collected. Divorce data were limited to variables

important from the legal viewpoint. In many

States procedures for the issuance of marriage

licenses and the return of marriage certificates

were unsatisfactory, detailed statistical information could not be collected, and marriage statistics were limited to State and county totals.

Marriage totals were intended to represent the

number of marriages performed in the area

rather than the number of marriage licenses

issued, but for the years 1867-86 it is not

always clear what they do represent.

The situation improved for the 1887-1906

period. The intent ion was to find both the number

of marriages and, whenever possible, also that

of marriage licenses and to use the latter to

check the former. The authors of the report for

that period felt that: “The effort to secure the

number of marriages celebrated has met with

success in almost all the states and territories...!! 8 The same was true for 1916 and tie

1922-32 period. Comparatively complete marriage totals made it possible to compute marriage

rates for individual States and territories. For

States with many counties not reporting, population totals were computed for the reporting

counties combined, and thus a rate could be

obtained which served as an estimate for the

whole State. This method was used to analyze

the 1867-86 data in the report of 1887-1906

statistics.

Another type of rate was the marriage rate

per 1,000 unmarried population. This was based

on population data by marital status, first gath&ed

in the 1890 census. Unfortunately, this rate was

computed for the unmarried population without

distinguishing sex, making it virtually valueless,

especially for the newly settled States of the

far and middle West, where the number of

unmarried men often was more than double that

of unmarried women. For the purpose of the

present report rates for the unmarried were

recomputed by sex.

Detailed marriage data were first published

for the marriage-collection area, 25 States

and the District of Columbia for 1939 and

27 States and the District of Columbia for 1940.

These data concerned the characteristics,of newly

married persons. Special issues were devoted

to a given characteristic of brides and grooms

married in the collection area: age, marital

status, or age and race. (The latter study is

limited to brides.) Data in the three publications

were given ,by State of residence rather than by

State where marriage was performed, and in this

they differ from all other nationally published

marriage statistics. A special publication indicated the, relationship between place of marriage

and place of residence of bride.

By 1954, the Standard Record of Marriage

was developed and recommended for adoption by

the States. A State marriage record confirming

closely to the Standard Record became one of the

criteria for admission to the marriage-registration area in 1957. The following characteristics of

bride and groom were included in the Standard

Record: age, race or color, marital status at

time of marriage, number of this marriage,

residence, and. birthplace. Two further characteristics, occupation and type of business or

industry, were on the Standard Record but this

information was not required from MRA States

and not used to compile statistics. Three characteristics of the marriage ceremony could also

be obtained from the Standard Record: month,

day of the week, and whether the ceremony was

civil or religious. Not all variables listed above

were tabulated every year, but all of them were

tabulated for one year or more between 1957,

when the

types of

MRA was established, and 1967. Various

rates, percentage distributions, median

4
ages, and seasonally adjusted marriage data have

been prepared for each year.

State and county totals of divorces were

reported much more completely than the comparable marriage figures during the data collections prior to 1933. In addition, many tables

of detailed statistical information on divorces

have been published, while there were none for

marriages. Consequently, publications of marriage and divorce statistics 1867-86 through 1932

included aImost exclusively divorce data. It is

difficult to say if data on limited decrees, which

do not give the parties the right to remarry,

were included in the published figures. As early

as 1887 “In collecting the statistics of divorce it

was sought to separate, so far as designation is

concerned, the absolute from the limited divorces. ITSStatistics on annulments were published

separately for the years 1926-32.

In recent times divorce data have referred

to absolute divorces and amulments combined,

excluding various types of limited divorces. In

most States where interlocutory decrees are

granted, they have been included in the data for

the year when the decree was rendered; these

decrees take effect not at the time they are

granted but at a given time in the future, unless

the parties to divorce become reconciled during

the intervening period. The completeness of

reporting for divorces in recent years has been

below that for marriages, and often there has

been at least one State with such poor reporting

that a rate could not be computed. Estimates for

such States were prepared to obtain national

and regional rates and totals.

In the detailed divorce statistics prior to

1933 great attention was paid to legal aspects of

the divorce case, with particular emphasis on the

party to whom the decree was granted, occasionally also referred to as the Iibellant. (It seems

that the terms “libellant” and “party to whom

granted” were used interchangeably.) Most statistical information was given separately for divorces granted to husband and those granted to

wife, often even without corresponding totals;

e.g., State divorce data by duration of marriage

were given separately for husbands and for wives,

so when median duration for the State is computed

two figures have to be taken into consideration

for each year of duration.

Eight questions were asked about every

divorce during the 1887 data collection:

1,

2*

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

State and county where divorce was rendered.

State or county where parties were married.

Year when parties were married.

Year when parties were divorced.

Number of years married.

The cause for which divorced.

The number of children by the marriage.

The party who was Iibellant.

Supplementary questions were asked in 45 counties

considered to be representative: (1) date of

marriage, (2) date of separation, (3) date of

filing petition, (4) date of decree, (5) whether

notice was served by publication, (6) whether

intemperance was a direct or indirect cause,

and (7) whether alimony was granted.

The information sought on the schedule used

in 1907 was much more extensive. In addition

to State and county of occurrence, 18 questions

were asked:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

State and country in which married.

Date of marriage.

Date of separation.

Date of filing petition.

Who was libellant?

How was notice served?

Was case contested?

Was decree granted?

Date of decree or judgment.

Number of years married.

Cause for which divorced.

If not direct, was intemperance an indirect cause?

Kind of divorce.

Number of children.

Was alimony asked?

Was alimony granted?

Occupation of parties.

Residence of libellee.

The 1916 report was limited to legal questions; even data on duration of marriage and

children were not given. The 1922-32 publications

also showed mostly legal data, though data on

duration and children were given. No information

5
on personal characteristics was included in any

publication. The incomplete information by occupation included in the 1887-1906 statistics was

an exception, but the plan to obtain data by race

for the same period proved to be impracticable.

The first publication that included personal

characteristics of parties to divorce was the

report “Statistics on Divorces and Annulments:

Reporting Areas, 1951” (Vital Stutistics4peciul

RepoYts, Volume ,38, No. 3, March 19, 1954).

This report included a table on age of the

divorced husband and wife and marriage order

(whether married once or more than once),

but data from only four States--Connecticut, Idaho,

Missouri, and Tennessee—were presented. Since

that date the importance of personal characteristics has increased considerably. In 1958, when

the present divorce-registration area was organized, the reporting of age became a prerequisite

for participation in the DR4. (Race and the number

of this marriage, though considered highly desirable, have been waived in individual cases. ) As

a result of this requirement, many States that

reported duration of marriage, number of children, or legal variables were not included in the

DRA. The statistical items on the Standard

Record of Divorce or Annulment, which was

recommended to States, were:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

State and county of occurrence.

Date of birth or age of husband and

wife.

Usual residence of husband and wife.

Place of birth of husband and wife.

Number of this marriage for husband and

wife.

Race or color of husband

Usual occupation of husband

Kind of business or industry

and wife.

Place of this marriage.

Date of marriage.

Number of children under 18.

Plaintiff.

To whom decree was granted.

Legal grounds.

Date of decree.

and wife.

and wife.

of husband

Of these items, the reporting of place of birth,

usual occupation, and kind of business or industry was never required. For reasons of

6

economy, the coding and punching of all legal

items were temporarily suspended in 1966.

Detailed data on divorce characteristics are

available for varying numbers of reporting States

for the years 1948-59 and for the DRA for 1960

and subsequent years. In addition, national and

regional data are available for 1960 for duration

of marriage, children of divorced couples, and

State of marriage. Annual estimates of the

number of children involved in divorce have

been prepared for all years since 1953. National

and regional statistics for 1960 and DRA statistics

for 1960 and subsequent years were prepared

from probability samples of divorce records.

TIME TRENDS IN

TOTALS AND RATES

National Totals of

Marriages and Divorces

The total number of marriages and divorces

increased considerably during the 100 years

under study (table 1) due to both increases in

population and changes in rates. Increases in

regional and divisional totals were also influenced by the distribution, of the unmarried

or married population in various parts of

the country as well as the location of marriage

and divorce “mills” (places where many out-ofState people are married or divorced). The

increase was more pronounced for divorces than

for marriages: In 1967 there were more than

50 times as many divorces in the United States

as in 1867 (10,000 to 523,000) but only 5.4

times as many marriages (357,000 to 1,927,000)

(figures 1 and 2). During the 100 years annual

marriage totals increased in 70 of the years,

declined in 29, and once remained the same

for two consecutive years. For divorces, the

comparable figures were 70, 20, and 10. The

lowest observed marriage total was 345,000 in

1868, the highest 2,291,000 in 1946-a ratio of

1 to 6.6. Divorce totals ranged from 10,000 to

610,000.

Data on annulments of marriage, whenever

available, are included in the divorce totals. In

recent years all States have reported annulments

combined with divorces, though usually one State

or more has failed to give the annual totals
2,400

r 1

2,400

2,200

2,C03

I

-t

II -1 2,CCQ

I i

2,200

/LJ/

1,8C0

1,6CQ

A

200

t

-J 2@J

—

o I I I I I I I I I I 1 I o

1660 1870 1690 1890 leoo 1910 1923 1930 le40 19ao 1960 1970

YEAR

Figure 1. Number of marriages: United States, 1867-1967.

for the two types of decrees separately. ‘Theoretically, annulments and divorces differ in that

marriages are annulled for legal grounds that

arose before marriage and made the marriage

void from the beginning, while divorces are

granted on legal grounds that arose after a

legally valid marriage was performed. In many

States, however, statutes do not follow this distinction, and often divorces are granted on grounds

that arose before marriage or annulments on

grounds which arose after marriage. The number

of annulments is insignificant except in California

and New York (table 2). In 1964, the only recent

year when all States reported annulment totals,

annulments comprised only 3.1 percent of divorces

and annulments combined. This percentage varied

from 2.1 to 2.4 in 1927-32, another period when

all States reported.

National Marriage Rates

The net change in the national marriage rate

during the 100-year period was almost nil: 9.6

per 1,000 population in 1867 and 9.7 in 1967.

During the intervening years the rate dipped as

low as 7.9 in 1932 and rose to 16.4 in 1946, but

90 annual rates fell within the interval 8.5

through 11.4 per 1,000 (table 1).

Marriage rates were comparatively stable

during the late decades of the 19th century, with

30 of the 34 annual rates varying from 8.7 to

9.2 per 1,000 without showing a noticeable trend.

The rate started to increase after the turn

of the century, and this trend was strengthened

by the effects of World War I. The high point of

this increase was a rate of 12.0 per 1,000 in

1920. After 1920 the trend reversed itself as the

effects of war wore off, and soon afterward

7
1

700

z

600 – — 600

500 — — Boo

400 — — 400

300 — — 300

200 — — 200

100 — — 100

0 I I .0

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970

YEAR

Figure 2. Number of divorces: United States, 1867-1967.

the Great Depression intensified this decline.

The rate reached the lowest point of 7.9 in

1932.

A second cycle of increase and decline

followed 1932. The rate increased to 12.1 by

1940 and, sustained by the effects of World War

II, reached 16.4 in 1946. This was followed by a

decline that brought the rate down to the second

lowest figure ever observed+.4 in 1958. After

a short period of stable rates at the 8.5 level

in 1959-62, the rate began to increase and rose

slowly to 9.7 in 1967. h is still impossible to

tell whether this increase is the beginning of

a third cycle of increase and decline comparable

to those of 1900-32 and 1932-58.

The number of marriages depends, among

other things, on the maximum number of couples

who could possibly be married. When the numbers

of unmarried men and women, including the

single, widowed, and divorced, are approximately

equal, either figure can be considered a good

approximation of potential couples or of the

maximum number of possible marriages. In

areas where the number of unmarried women

significantly cliff ers from the number of unmarried

men, the figure for the less numerous of the

two sexes represents the maximum number of

possible marriages; even if all unmarried persons

of one sex were to get married, there would

remain a group of unmarried persons of the

more numerous sex who could not possibly marry.

During the 1OO-year period under consideration the sex ratio of the unmarried population

changed drastically. In 1890, the first year when

marital status information was collected, there

were 112.5 unmarried men aged 15 years and over

per 100.0 unmarried women of that age. As many

unmarried male immigrants entered the United

States in years after 1890, that ratio increased to

115.3 in 1910. With immigration interrupted by

World War I, subsequent legislation limiting

immigration, and a number of young men killed

during the wars, the sex ratio of the unmarried

declined to 99.3 in 1940 and 83.4 in 1960.

National marriage rates per 1,000 unmarried

women aged 15 and over are shown in table 3 for
1940-67 and Census years since 1890. Rates per

1,000 unmarried men and women aged 15 andover

for census years are showh in table A. The higher

of these two rates for a given year is the rate

per 1,000 possible marriages; for years 1890-1930

it was the rate for women, while for 1940-60 it

was that for men. This rate increased from 67.4 in

1890 to 88.1 in 1960, with a maximum of 100.1 in

1950.

Table A. Marriage rates for unmarried men

and women aged 15 and over: United

States, census years 1890-1960

[Rate per 1,000 population]

l“’ 1

1960 --------------

1950 --------------

1940--------------

1930--------------

1920--------------

1910--------------

1900--------------

1890--------------

88.1

100.1

83.4

64.5

85.2

66.9

61.3

59.9

Women

73.5

90.2

82.8

67.8

92.3

77.1

68.2

67.4

National Divorce Rates

Thetrend of the divorceratediffers fromthat

of the marriage rate by showing a consistent increase for aperiodof80years, 1867-1946(table 1

and figure 3). Although thisincreasewasacceleratedby two World Warsandtemporarily reversed

by the Depression, the trend wasresumed assoon

as the situation returnedtonormal. Duringthe80-

year period an annual rate was smaller than that

for the preceding year in only seven cases (1913,

1918, 1921,1922, 1930, 1931, and 1932).

The time trend became completely different

after 1946. It could be expectedthattheextremely

inflated post-World War 11rates would revert to

a more normal size and that the increase would

then be resumed. This, however, did not happen.

The inflated rate declined from 4.3 in 1946 to

2.3in1955 and fluctuated from 2.1 t02.3 between

1955 and 1963. A new wave of increases began

in 1963, andtherate reached 2.6in1967+ growth

of 13 percent in 4 years. The rate was 2.9 per

1,000 for 1968, and it increased to the provisional

rate of 4.0 for 1972, so this increase continued

after 1967 and lasted much longer than that which

occurred during and after World War H.

During the first 60 years under consideration

the divorce rate increased on the average about

75 percent every 20 years, and if this increase had

continued, rates of 2.8 in 1947 and 4.9 in 1967 could

have been expected. The year 1947 fell into the

period of post-World War II increase, so the

observed rate was much higher than expected,

but the following year, 1948, it was 2.8. In spite

of rapid growth in the divorce rate since 1963,

the observed rate for 1967 was still much lower

than that which could be expected on the basis of

the 1867-1927 experience.

The population exposed to the risk of divorce

are all married couples, including those who live

together and those who live apart. AS the numkr

of married couples, particularly those living

apart, is not known, that of all women, or all men,

reporting themselves as married can be used as

an approximation. There are differences between

the two numbers, but these differences are

comparatively small and their effects on the rate

are not pronounced. Therefore rates were computed only for women (table 4).

These rates indicate that in 1890, the first

year with data by marital status, 3.0 couples per

1,000 were divorced; this rate increased to 8.0

in 1920, 8.8 in 1940, and 17.9 in 1946. It declined

to 8.9 in 1958 and then resumed the increase,

reaching 11.2 in 1967. This increase is less

pronounced than that of the rate per 1,000 total

population: The 1967 rate per 1,000 married

women was 3.7 times as large as the 1890 rate,

while a comparable ratio was 5.2 for the crude

rate and 15.8 for the number of divorces granted.

Because of a rapid and consistent increase in

population, the number of divorces grew much

more rapidly than the rate. The 1967 crude rate

was 8.7 times as large as that for 1867, but the

number was over 50 times as large; from 1963 “to

1967 the rate increased 13 percent, but the

number, 22 percent. Rates higher than in 1967

were found during the six years 1944-49, but a

total higher than that for 1967 was found only

onceAI0,000 in 1946.
11

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

a

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Marriage

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

— 10

— 9

8

7

6

5

4

●✎☛3,,,, :{

e

*“ ‘*”*41 M,ti,,,,sf#@

●*,, ,*I

#

***W*’ 2

● +Is-o,,,d+. .**#a,,,,\

,0,,*+ ,,**W

,,,,,,,,,, fium,..lm,llnmas# n9nt* ‘1

,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*,,,,,,,,,,,,91F,I**

o I I I I I I I o

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1980 1970

YEAR

Figure 3. Marriage and divorce rates per 1,000 population: United States, 1867-1967.

Area Totals of Marriages and Divorces

Though both marriages and divorces increased throughout the United States during the

100-year period, the increase varied considerably

among regions and geographic divisions (tables 5

and 6). For divorces the highest rate of increase

between 1870 and 1967 was found in the West,

followed by the South, North Central, and Northeast Regions in that order. The increase in the

New England Division was the lowest; that in

the Pacific Division was the highest. Marriage

totals for 1870 could be estimated only for two

regions, the North Central and the West, and the

ratio between the 1967 and 1870 totals was 4.1

and 46.4, respectively. From 1870 to 1967 the rate

of increase in marriages in the Pacific Division

was 14 times the rate of increase in New England

for divorces this figure for the Pacific was 23

times that for New England. Ratios between the

1870 and 1967 totals for geographic divisions are

shown in table B, though 1870 marriage totals are

not available for five of the nine divisions. If 1870

figures’ are equal to 1.0, the 1967 ratios are as

shown in table B.

Due to differences in the rate of increase,

the distribution of marriages and divorces among

regions and divisions changed considerably during

the period under study (tables 5 and 6). In 1870,

77 percent of all divorces were granted in the

two northern regions. This percentage declinecl to

63 in 1890, 51 in 1930, and 37 in 1967. Simultaneously,

increased

“the percentage granted in the South

from 17 to 27, 32, and 37, and the

10
Table B. Ratio of 1967 to 1870 marriage

and divorce totals: United States and

each division

[1870 totals equal 1.0]

DivLsion

United States--

New England ----------

Middle Atlantic ------

East North Central---

West North Central---

South Atlantic -------

East South Central---

west South Centxal---

Mountain -------------

Pacific --------------

7Marriage

5.5

2.7

---

4.7

---

---

2.7

---

---

37.0

Di.vorce

47.5 ‘

10.7

22.9

24.7

28.8

1:;.;

193:5

160.0

246.4

percentage granted in the West, from 6 to 11,

i8, and 26.Formarriages thedistributionchanged

much less, but the direction of the changes was

the same, as can be seen in table5. One of the

principal causes of these changes is the shiftin

population from East to West. Hence changesin

the rates are less pronounced than those of the

totals.

Area Marriage Rates

In the early years of marriage and divorce

statistics marriage data weremuchless complete

than those on divorce. This applies particularly

to the 1887 collection, when no satisfactory

marriage figures were received from a large

number of States and territories (table 7). Crude

marriage rates for 1870 could be computed for

only 10 States and the District of Columbia, rates

were limited to reporting counties in 15 States,

and they could not be obtained for 25 States and

territories. For 1880 the comparable numbers

were 17 and the District of Columbia, 12, and

21. More complete totals” began with the 1907

collection. In 1890, when rates were available

for all States and territories except Maine and

South Carolina, the magnitude of State rates

varied much less than at present, and due to

less developed means of transportation, few if

any marriage mills existed. Marriage rates in

newly and sparcely settled areas were low due to

the scarcity of unmarried women.

Before 1940 there was little difference in

marriage rates among geographic divisions cornpared to more recent years, when the Mountain

Division often had rates almost twice those of the

division with the next highest rate (table 7). The

growth of the marriage rate in the Mountain

Division was due to development of marriage

mills, particularly in Nevada, established since

the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Variation in

rates for the remaining divisions depended in

part on the general level of the national marriage

rate; the higher this rate, the wider the range

of divisional rates, which widened from 1890 to

1940 and narrowed afterward. In recent decades,

the lowest marriage rates were found in the two

divisions of the Northeast Region (New England

and Middle Atlantic) and the Pacific Division. The

proximity of the “Mountain Division marriage

mills may explain the comparatively low rates in

the Pacific Division. The two divisions in the

North Central Region had rates higher than those

in the Northeast but, as a rule, lower than the

national average. The highest rates outside of the

Mountain Division were found in the South from

1890 to 1916, in 1950 in the West South Central,

in 1930 and 1940 in the East South CentraI, and

in 1960 and 1967 in the South Atlantic Division.

The number of marriages depends in part on

the size and the sex ratio of the unmarried

population of an area. The sex ratio for the unmarried population has varied considerably among

the States and has often differed from that for the

Nation. Therefore State rates per 1,000 unmarried

males and per 1,000 unmarried females aged 15

and over were computed for years in which

population figures by marital status were available

(table 8).

Since 1890 the number of unmarried women

has been larger than the number of unmarried men

in the Northeast and parts of the South. Occasionally the two figures were practically identical, as

in New Jersey in 1930, where the marriage rate

was 49.0 for men and 48.8 for women. In most

areas west of the Mississippi River numbers of

unmarried women were comparatively very small

in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th,

often resulting in marriage rates for women that

were three times or more the rates for men. One

11
of the largest differences was found in Montana in

1890: 27.4 per 1,000 men but 141.5 for women, a

ratio of 1 to 5. Wherever unmarried women were

scarce, the likelihood for men to get married was

much lower than elsewhere, but the likelihood

for women was extremely high. Often well over

10 percent of all unmarried women over 15

were married during a single year. As the

settlement of the Western States progressed and

transportation improved, gaps between the two

rates narrowed and in some cases the direction

was reversed. The only area where the old

pattern still prevailed in 1960 was Alaska, where

the marriage rate was 54.3 per 1,000 unmarried

men but 152.5 per 1,000 unmarried women.

Area Divorce Rates

of 1870. Nationally the rates were 2.6 and 0.3

(table 9), and their ratio was 8.7; this ratio was

lowest for the Northeast (only 3.7), approximately

equal for the North Central and the West (6.5

and 6.8, respectively), and very high (15.5) for

the South.

Divorce rates per 1,000 married women

present a geographic distribution very similar to

that of the rate per 1,000 total population (table

10). It should be noted that in all regions the

increase of the rate per 1,000 married couples

was less pronounced than that of the rate per

1,000 total population. AS information about

marital status was first collected during the 1890

census and rates have been computed only for

census years, 1890 and 1960 rates are compared.

If the 1890 rates are equal to 1, the 1960 rates

have the values shown in table C.

In recent decades the geographic distribution Table C. Ratio of 1960 to 1890 divorce

of divorce rates by magnitude has been invariably

the same (table 9). The Northeast Region, particularly the Middle Atlantic Division of that region,

had the lowest rates, followed by the North

Central, South, and West Regions, in that order;

the highest rates were found in the Mountain

Division of the West. This pattern represents a

considerable change from the early years of the

period under study. Originally the South Atlantic

Division had rates lower than or equal to the

Middle Atlantic. In 1870, 1880, and 1890 the rate

for the South Region was similar to that for the

Northeast, and as late as 1930 the rate for the

North Central Region was higher than that for

the South. This was due mostly to high rates in

two North Central States, Indiana and Missouri

(which still have higher rates than other States

in that region). Divorce rates of the three

divisions of the South Region have increased more

rapidly than those of other areas. The only

feature that remained unchanged throughout the

whole period was that the rate for the West

Region was always 2 to 4 times the lowest

regional rate for the same year. On the other

hand, the great difference between the rates for

the Mountain and the Pacific Divisions of the

West is of comparatively recent origin; as late

as 1930 the two rates were approximately equal.

The changes in divorce rates can be summarized by using ratios of the 1967 rate to that

rates per 1,000 population and per 1,,000

married couples: United States and each

region

[1890 rates equal 1.0]

~

United

States -----

u

Northeast --------- 2.3 ,

North Central ----- :::

south ------------- ;:;

West -------------- ::: .

in Miwr&age and Divorce, 1867-1906, divorce

rates for the census years 1870, 1880, 1890, and

1900 were shown for counties that include 42’

major cities. These rates were brought up to

date by adding values for 1930, 1950, 1960, and

1965 (county divorce totals were not published for

1940) without including any new areas (table 11).

About three-fourths of the city rates were higher

than the corresponding State rate, for almost 20

percent of the cities both rates were equal, and

in a few instances the State rates were higher.

In the 19th century, when the level of divorce

12
rates was generally low, only about 60 percent of

the city rates were higher than the State rates;

in the first half of the 20th century this proportion

increased to 80 percent, while in the 1960’s it

declined to 70.

The rates for all city areas increased considerably from 1870 to 1965. The largest increase was found in Richmond, Virginia, where

the 1965 rate was 32 times the 1870 rate; the

smallest was in New Haven and Waterbury,

Connecticut, where it grew by about one-fourth.

CHARACTERISTICS

OF MARRIAGES

Detailed marriage and divorce statistics

refer either to the events themselves or to the

persons involved. Data are collected on characteristics of marriages or of divorces as well as

on characteristics of brides and grooms and divorcing husbands and wives. Each marriage or

divorce is represented by one statistic for each

characteristic of the event (e.g., the month when

it occurred) but by two statistics when characteristics of spouses are given (e.g., one for the

age of the wife, another for that of the husband).

During this period less data on characteristics of the event were collected for marriages

than for divorces. For many decades information

about marriages was limited to area totals. It was

not until 1941 that data by month became available

and not until 1960 that they covered the entire

United States. The first monthly statistics were

published by the Bureau of the Census in Popu-

.hZon, Series PM-1, No. 4, under the title

“Marriage Licenses Issued in Cities of 100,000

Inhabitants or More, 1939 to 1944, With Statistics

by Month, 1941 to 1944.” The title points to two

limitations of the data: they represent marriage

licenses instead of actual marriages, and they

cover only 34 major cities and the 57 counties

that included the remaining major cities—a total

of 91 local areas where about one-third of all

marriage licenses were issued. These early

marriage license data are of use for comparative

purposes. They show the still-familiar seasonal

distribution, with a peak in June and lowest

figures for the first 3 months of the year.

Beginning with 1960 statistics on two other

characteristics of marriages have been published:

Table D. Percent distribution of marriages

by day of week on which marriage took

place: United States, 1960

Day of week Percent

distribution

Total ---------

b

Sunday -------------- 11.3

Monday --------------

Tuesday ------------- :::

Wednesday ----------- 5.9

Thursday ------------

Friday -------------- 1;::

Saturday ------------ 46.7

day of the week when they were performed and

type of marriage ceremony, whether civil or

religious.

The variation in numbers of marriages by day

of the week is even more pronounced than that by

month, with almost one-half of all marriages

taking place on Saturdays. National data by day of

the week are available for 1960, and their distribution is shown in table D. MRA figures for 1960

and subsequent years show a very similar pattern.

Due to this distribution, marriage totals for any

month are affected by the number of Saturdays in

the month, and this source of variability has to be

taken into consideration when monthly figures are

mathematically adjusted for seasonal variation.

Marriages by type of ceremony show the

numbers of religious and civil marriages, and for

some years the former are classified by whether

the clergyman was Protestant, Catholic, Jewish,

or of another religion. (The publication of statistics by type of ceremony was temporarily

discontinued in 1966 during program cutbacks resulting from budgetary restrictions.) For all years

for which data are available the overwhelming

majority of marriages were religious, and the

proportion of religious marriages was higher for

brides and grooms, who were marrying for the

first time than for those who had been previously

married. The respective percentages are shown in

table E.

13
Table E. Percent distribution of marriages by whether ceremony was religious or civil,

according to marriage order: United States, 1965 and 1960

1965 1960

Marriage order

Religious Civil Religious Civil

Bride

First marriages -------------------------- 80.6 19.4 83.6 16.4

Remarriages ------------------------------ 57.5 42.5 61.6 38.4

Groom

First marriages -------------------------- 80.0 20.0 82.7 17.3

Remarriages ------------------------------ 59.9 40.1 63.9 36.1

CHARACTERISTICS

OF DIVORCES

Duration of Marriage Prior to Decree

Data on characteristics ofdivorcesare available for some of the very earlyyears; interesting

comparisons and contrasts can be made between

then and recent times. While the different sets

of data may not be strictly comparable, they are

reasonably acceptable as general indicators for

a few basic comparisons.

The duration of marriage at time of divorce

decree is one of the few variables collectedsince

1867. During the 1867-1906 period the durationof

marriage was computedby subtractingtheyearof

marriage from the year of decree; since then it

has been computed using the year and monthof

each event. The difference in method may affect

the percentage of eventswithaveryshortduration

such as less than 1 year or 1 year, but both

methods should yield similar data for longer

durations.

The median duration of marriage was 7.4

years in 1867 for the United States and7.1 years

in 1967 for the DRA. The difference between the

two figures seems small. During the intervening

years the median varied from aminimumof 5.8

years for the 16 reporting States in1950t08.3

in the four years 1889, 1891, 1900,and1901. The

ratio between these two figures is only 1.4, much

lower than the comparable ratio for the crude

divorce rate. In fact, even disregarding years

for which the median duration is not available

and thus omitting the high post-World War II

rates, the ratio between the highest and lowest

crude rate is 9.3.

The time trend of the median duration (table 12

and figure 4) shows a decline during the first few

years of the period under study, from 7.4 years

in 1867 to 6.7 in 1871, followed by more than 10

years of increasing duration, reaching 8.0 years in

1887. In the subsequent years 1887-1905 the

mediins were high and varied little (8.0 to 8.3

years), with what appears to be an incipient decline in 1905 and 1906. When data again became

available, the medians were much lower (from 7.9

years in 1906 to 6.6 in 1922); however, they increased to 7.1 in 1931 and 1932. During the

subsequent break in divorce statistics the medians

declined again to 6.4 years in 1948 and 5.8 in

1950. From 1950 to 1963 there was another pe:riod

of increase, followed by a slight decline (7.5 in

1963 to 7.1 in 1967).

These changes seem rather erratic and it is

difficult to explain their relation to the national

divorce rate. The median duration has increased

while the rate was increasing (1871-90 and

1922-29) and while it was declining (1929-32 and ‘

1950- 57); the median has also declined while the

rate was increasing (1963-67). The duration of

marriage declined during the two periods for which

data are not available (1907- 21 and 1933-47), as

medians for the years preceding the break in data

were considerably higher than those when data

collection was resumed. The medians declined

14
/

9- 9

2

$ 8 -

>

8’

g

z

0

g

K 7 -

2

/]

7

z

~%~

z

6 - 6

5 - 5

0 1 I I I I I I 1 I I 0

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 Iwo 1970

YEAR

Figure k Median duration of marriage prior to divorce: United States, 1867-1906, 1922-32, “n+ I Jaw; reporting

States, 19W-69; and d i vorce-reg i strat ion areaj 196 I -67.

from 7.9 years in 1906 to 6.6 in 1922 and from

7.1 in 1932 to 6.4 in 1948. As each period for

which data are not available included a World War,

it seems likely that the disorganization caused

by major upheavals is conducive to shorter

durations of marriage.

Duration medians for individual States in

selected years (table 13) indicate that the range

of State medians has varied between about 4 and

12 years. In general medians were high in the

Northeast Region, particularly in Massachusetts

and hew Jersey. They were low in the West

South Central Division and showed pronounced

declines in the West Region.

The percent distribution of divorces by duration of marriage has changed during the period

under study (table 14). The most important change,

the increase in the number of couples with a very

short duration of marriage, less than 2 years,

may be partly due to changed methods of computing duration. Still, the change in methods

cannot explain the fact that the proportion of

those divorces tripled—from 5 percent in the 19th

century to 15 percent in the 1960’s. Percentages

of divorces with duration of 5-9 years and, to a

lesser degree, those with 10-14 years declined

during the same period.

Duration of Separation

Marriages cease to function normally when

the spouses separate, and separation often, though

not always, is a preliminary to divorce. The duration of marriage prior to divorce divides into two

main periods: (1) duration of marriage prior to

separation and (2) duration of separation prior to

decree. Before 1967, statistics on separation

were collected only once, in 1907, and published

for the entire 20- year period 1887-1906 for the

United States and every State. These data refer

only to couples who divorced during that period,

and no data exist on the incidence of separation

that did not end in divorce.

The modal duration of marriage to separation

was 1 year or less, and 27 percent of couples

divorced during the 1887-1906 period had lived

together less than 2 years (table 15 and figure 5).

Couples for whom the duration of marriage to

divorce was less than 2 years comprised only 5

percent. As a couple who divorced after a given

duration of marriage had to be separated within

the same period, it can be seen that 5 percent

were both separated and divorced less than 2

years after marriage, while 22 percent were

separated less than 2 years after marriage but

15
“ n

I

i

30 I

I

:1

25 ~1. .

201-

— Marrwe to dworce

mmmmtee Man mge to separation

-- Separation to dwarce

10 [Ai.\

‘%’””+,,, 5

o 5 10 15 20

DURATION IN YEARS

Figure 5. Percent distribution of divorces by duration of marriage and of separation: United States, 1867-1906.

divorced at a later date. The same generalization

applies to any cumulative percentage of duration.

Cumulative percentages of couples who separated,

separated and divorced, and separated but divorced later are shown in table F. (The last

column was obtained by subtraction.)

The time elapsing between separation and

divorce depends not only on the decision of the

spouses but also on statutory rules of the States.

It takes a certain period of time for some legal

grounds to arise, and there are varying residence

requirements and procedural rules. The duration

of separation was usually short: for 35 percent

of the couples it lasted less than 2 years; for 44

percent, 2-4 years; and for 17 percent, 5-9 years.

Only a small proportion of divorces, less than 5

percent, was granted after 10 years or more of

separation.

In the years 1887-1906 the median duration

of marriage to divorce in the United States was

8.1 years, and State medians ranged from 6.3

years in Arkansas to 11.4 in Massachusetts. The

median duration of marriage to separation was

4.7 years, ranging from 3.4 in Arkansas to 6.7 in

New York. The median duration of separation to

divorce was 2.8 years in the United States; it

varied from 1.8 years in Indiana to 5.7 in

Massachusetts (table 16).

Median duration of marriage ending in divorce

during the 20-year period depended also on the

party to whom the decree was granted. There was

practically no difference in the median duration

of marriages at decree (for the United States it

was 8.1 years when granted to the husband and

8.2 when granted to the wife). However, the similarity disappears when the whole duration is

divided by the separation. The median duration of

marriage to separation was 4.5 years when the

decree was granted to the husband and 4.9,, when

to the wife, while the median duration of the

separation was 3.1 and 2.7 years, respectively.

Thus when decrees were granted to the wife, as

usually happened, the marriage had lasted longer

before separation but not as long after separation.

Table F. Cumulative percentages of couples who were separated, separated and divorced,

and separated but divorced later, by duration of marriage prior to divorce: United

States, 1887-1906

Separated Separated

Duration of marriage Separated and but divorced

divorced later

—

Less than 2 years ----------------------------- 27.0 21.8

Less than 5 years ----------------------------- 51.9 2;:; 23,.6

Less than 10 years ---------------------------- 74.6 59.7 14..9

Less than 15 years ---------------------------- 86.5 77.7 8’.8

Less than 20 years ---------------------------- 93.1 87.9 51.2

16
Place of Marriage

Information about the place where divorcing

couples were married was obtained for the United

States and each State or territory for every year

of the 1867-1906 period and for 1916. National,

regional, and DRA figures were obtained for 1960,

and there are data for limited numbers of States

for the years 1952-65. This information was not

tabulated for 1966 and 1967. Classification of the

place of marriage has varied considerably, but

in all cases it is possible to compute the proportion of divorced couples who were married in the

same State in which they were divorced. For the

United States a pronounced decline in this proportion took place during the period under study—

from 79.2 percent in 1880 to 57.5 in 1960 (table

17). The percentage has declined since 1870 in the

Northeast Region, since 1880 in the North Central

and South, and since 1900 in the West. These

changes are due to two factors influencing the

trend in opposite directions: improved means of

transportation and settlement of new areas.

Better transportation permitted more spatial

mobility, which lead to (1) a higher likelihood of

marriages performed outside of the State where

the couple intended to settle, e.g., in a marriage

mill or in the parental home of the bride, (2)

easier migration of married couples, (3) easier

migration of separated persons before divorce,

and (4) more migratory divorces in divorce-mill

States. All these factors contributed to an increased percentage of couples who were married

outside the State where divorced. On the other

hand, a high proportion of the married persons

in areas that were still sparcely settled in the

19th century had been married before moving

into the area. This percentage declined with time

and became more similar to that for the rest of

the country, as in the case of the Dakotas,

Oklahoma, and some States in the West Region

(table 17).

Children of the Divorced

Information about children of divorced

couples goes back to 1867 but is rather sketchy

and incomplete. For the years 1867-1906 only

three categories were given: couples with children, couples without children, and couples who

gave no information as to children, the latter

category often being the most numerous. The total

number of children for couples reporting children

was published without information on how it was

computed. Thus the only measure that could be

used was the mean number of children per divorce

with children. This measure for the whole period

under study is shown in table 18 and figure 6.

The means for the first collection period,

1867-86, are quite different from those for the

second collection period,’ 1887-1906. During the

first 20 years the number of children per divorce

with children varied from 2.02 to 2.10; during the

second period, from 1.84 to 1.92. The mean number

fell from 2.10 in 1886 to 1.91 in 1887. It would

seem that this difference is due to the method

used for compiling the data. As information from

the second collection is, in general, more accurate

than that from the first, reliable time trend data

begin with 1887.

During the years 1887-1906 the mean declined

from 1.91 to 1.84. Exactly the same mean, 1.84,

was found when publication of data on children was

resumed in 1922. At that point a decIine set in

again, and the low point of 1.74 was reached in

1932. This decline was not due to the Depression

because it had already begun when the Depression

started, but the Depression may have accelerated

the process. In the 1950’s and 1960’s the mean

number of children per divorce with children increased in the reporting areas from 1.76 in 1950

to 2.18 in 1967.

The available figures for regions, divisions,

and States in selected years (table 19) indicate

that the mean number of children per decree with

children was lowest in the Northeast Region in

all years for which regional ratios were computed. However, in 1967 this pattern seems to

have changed, as all available ratios for the

reporting southern States are lower than those

for any reporting State outside of the South

Region. Highest ratios were found in the South

in 1890, 1900, and 1922, and in the North Central

Region in 1930 and 1960.

Legal Grounds

When divorce statistics were collected directly from court files, the only available infor17
—

zz~

2.1

2.0 —

1.9 —

1.8 —

1,7 —

OL

1860

I I I I

1870 1880 1890 190Q

\

I I I

1910 1920 1930

YEAR

I I I

1940 1950 1960

—2.2

:?.1

- :?.0

— 1.9’

— ‘1.8

i’

1870

Fiaure 6. Mean number of ch i1dren per divorce with children reported: Un ited States, 1867-1906, 1922-32, and 1860;

report ing States, 1946-59; and divorce-regi strat ion area, 1961-67.

mat ion was that routinely obtained during

litigation. The majority of data collected in

1887, 1907, 1917, and 1922-32 were legal. When

the collection of divorce statistics was resumed

after the Depression, emphasis had shifted from

legal to demographic variables. States that reported complete legal data but had no information

on personal characteristics of husband and wife

were not admitted to the DRA. In the years 1940-59

only two legal variables were tabulated: legal

grounds for the decree and the party to whom the

decree was granted. In 1960 data identifying the

plaintiff were added. The time series on legal

divorce statistics was broken in 1966, when it was

decided not to tabulate the three legal items.

Legal grounds for divorce are listed in State

statutes, and the true cause of estrangement

between the spouses can be used as a legal ground

in court proceedings only if it coincides with one

of the listed grounds. These grounds vary from

State to State and can be changed by acts of State

legislature. Still, there are types of behavior that

constitute legal grounds for divorce in all or most

States.

the

18

Over 95 percent of all divorces granted during

period under study for which information is

available, were granted on the 10 grounds listed

in table 20. In many cases similar grounds called

by different names in various States are combined in the table. Throughout the period under

study the importance of individual grounds has

changed. This may have been due to several

reasons: (1) new grounds were added or old ones

reformulated, (2) the time period necessary for

a ground to arise has changed, and (3) the attitude

of the parties has changed. The wish to have the

legal grounds reflect, as far as possible, the

actual situation may have been replaced by the

wish to use the most anodyne ground. The percentage of decrees granted for adultery declined

throughout the whole period, from 25 percent in

1867-86 to 1.4 in1965, orataratio of 18 to 1. The

percents of decrees granted for desertion declined

in a ratio of 3 to 1; drunkenness declined also. It

must be remembered that these declines do not

necessarily mean that there is now less adultery,

desertion, or drunkenness than there was 100

years ago. On the other hand, cruelty as a legal

ground increased 160 percent, and this is no doubt

connected with the broad interpretation given to

this term, especially to mental cruelty, in recent

decades; neglect and nonsupport increased also.
Such causes as incompatibility, separation, and

indignities are used now more often than in the

past. In the years 1867-86 over two-thirds of all

divorces were granted for adultery and desertion.

In 1965 roughly the same proportion were granted

for cruelty, neglect or nonsupport, and indignities.

Party to Whom Decree

Was Granted

Information about the party to whom the

divorce was granted was considered particularly

important for div,orce statistics in the years

1867-1932. Most published data were given separately for divorces granted to the husband and

those granted to the wife, with even the total

figures occasionally omitted. Information about

two aspects of this variable can be obtained: (1)

the distribution of divorces by party to whom

granted and (2) the relationship between the

party to whom the decree was granted and various

other variables. The first aspect is shown in

table 21.

During the whole period under study the overwhelming majority of divorces were granted to the

wife, and this majority increased slightly throughout the period. There is a definite territorial

pattern: The proportion of decrees granted to

women in the South, particularly the South Atlantic

Division, was always lower than in other areas.

During the early years of divorce statistics the

overwhelming majority of decrees in several

southern States were granted to husbands, but

this majority disappeared about the turn of the

century. On the other extreme, wives have obtained about three-fourths of all decrees in the

West and, since 1916, in the North Central Region.

The classification of most items by party to

whom decree was granted, particularly in years

preceding 1933, permits some insights into the importance of this variable. In the section on separation there was a short discussion of the differences in the duration of marriage to separation

and in that of separation to decree between cases

granted to the husband and those granted to the

wife during the 20- year period 1887-1906. In 1870

and 1880 the median duration of marriage to decree was higher when the decree was granted to

the wife (table 22). Both medians became identical

in 1890 and 1900, and later the relationship was

reversed. In 1930, 1960, and 1965 higher medians

were observed for divorces granted to the husband

than for those granted to the wife.

In all years when information was available,

the mean number of children per decree with

children was higher when the decree was granted

to the husband than when it was granted to the

wife; these means were 1.95 and 1.89 in 1890, 1.96

and 1.84 in 1900, and 1.81 and 1.77 in 1930. The

defendant husband was more likely than the defendant wife to reside in the State where the

decree was granted; 82.9 percent of defendant

husbands and 73.7 of defendant wives resided in

the divorce State in 1960, while for 1965 the

comparable percentages were 86.1 and 75.4.

Other Legal Variables

Information about several other legal variables was collected at various times before 1933.

In most cases the period of data collection was

too short to yield any information of interest, and

time trend data are available for only two of these

variables—whether the case was contested and

whether alimony was granted.

The proportion of contested divorce cases

has always been comparatively low: 15.4 percent

for the 1887-1906 period, 14.8 in 1922, declining

to 11.9 in 1929, and increasing to 14.1 after the

Depression began. This increase seems to contradict the theory that divorces declined during

the Depression because of costs, as a higher

percentage of defendants spent money in contesting the case. In absolute numbers, contested

divorces declined 10.1 percent from 1929 to 1932,

but they declined much less than uncontested divorces (20.9 percent).

Information about alimony is found for the

1887-1906 period, for 1916, and for six States in

1939. The percentage of cases with alimony asked

increased from 13.2 in 1887-1906 to 20.3 in 1916

(for 1939 this figure is not available), and those

of alimony granted from 9.2 to 15.3, and to 29.0

in 1939. This left the proportion of cases with

alimony refused almost unchanged: 4.0 percent

in 1887-1906 and 4.8 percent in 1916. In 1916

alimony was awarded to the wife in 4.7 percent of

divorces granted to the husband and in 20.1 percent

of those granted to the wife.

19
PERSONAL

CHARACTERISTICS

Collection of information on demographic

characteristics of bride and groom and of divorcing spouses did not begin until the publication of

marriage and divorce statistics was resumed

after the Depression. For divorces these data

are still very incomplete. For marriages the bestcovered items are age at marriage and marriage

order, i.e., whether a person was married for the

first time or remarried. From these data median

age of bride and groom was prepared for most

States in selected years since 1940 (table 23) and

median age by marriage order for a group of 22

States for the years 1954-67 (table 24).

The overwhelming majority of reporting

States showed declines in median age for brides

from 1940 to 1950, from 1950 to 1955, and from

1955 to 1960 but increases from 1960 to 1967.

For grooms the declines observed in earlier

years continued through the 1960-67 period. Recent increases in the median age of brides accompanied by declines of that for grooms indicate

a narrowing of the difference in age between

newly married spouses. Median age for grooms

declined from 1960, to 1967 in all four regions;

for brides the median increased slightly in the

South and the North Central (these two regions

combined accounting for 61 percent of all marriages in 1967) and did not change in the Northeast. The median for the West depends in part on

assumptions made about age distribution in five

Western States where information on age is not

available (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New

Mexico, and Washington), as about 45 percent of

marriages performed in the West Region were

performed in these five States.

Declines in the 1950?s and subsequent increases in the 1960’s can be observed in median

ages for all brides and first-married brides in a

group of 22 States, while the comparable medians

for grooms show declines that have been leveling

out in recent years. No clear-cut pattern can be

detected of median ages for remarried brides and

grooms (table 24).

000

REFERENCES

1Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor: A Report on

Marriage and Divorce in the united States, 1867 to 1886.

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1889.

21bid., p. 18.

Slbid., p’. 19.

4U.S. Bureau of the Census: Mam”age and Divorce, 1867-

1906, Part 1, Summary, Laws, Foreign Statistics, Washington,

U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909; Part 2, General Tables,

Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1908.

5 U.S. Bureau of the Census: Marriage and Divorce, 1916.

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1919.

6Stouffer, S. A., and Spencer, L. M.: Recent increases in

marriage and divorce. Arm ]. Sociol, 44:551-554, Jan. 1939.

7Nationai Center for Health Statistics: Demographic characteristics of persons married between January 1955 and June

1958. Vital and Health Statistics. PHS Pub. No. 1000-Series

21-No. 2. Public Health Service. Washington. U.S. Government

Printing Office, Apr. 1965.

8 U.S. Bureau of the Census: Jfarriage and Divorce,

1867-1906, Part 1, SUmmary, Laws, Foreign Statistics. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909. p. 5.

‘Wright, op. cit., p. 132.

20
LIST OF DETAILED TABLES

Page

Table 1. 22

2.

Marriages, divorces, and rates: United States, 1867-1967------------------------

Regr;;d annulments: all reporting States, California, New York, and all others,

------------------------------------------------------- -------------- ---- 23

24

3. Marriage rates for unmarried women aged 15 and over: United States, 1940-67 and

selected census years-----------------------------------------------------------

Divorce rates for married women aged 15 and over: United States, 1920-67 and selected census years-------------------------------------------------------------

4.

24

25

Marriages and percent distribution by area of occurrence: United States, each

region and division, selected years 1870-1967-----------------------------------

5.

6. Divorces and percent distribution by area of occurrence: United States, each

region and division, selected years 1870-1967----------------------------------- 27

7. Marriage rates: United States, each region, division, and State or territory,

selected years l87O-l967-------------------------------------------------------- 28

30

8. Marriage rates for unmarried men and women aged 15 and over: United States, each

region, division, and State or territory, selected census years 1890-1960-------

9.

10.

Divorce rates: United States, each region, division, and State or territory, selected years l87O-l967---------------------------------------------------------- 34

36

Divorce rates for married women: United States, each region, division, and State

or territory, selected census years 1890-1960-----------------------------------

11.

12.

13.

14.

Divorce rates: counties containing selected ❑ajor cities, selected years 1870-

1965-----------J ---------------------------------------------------------------- 38

Median duration of marriage prior to divorce: United States, 1867-1967---------- 39

Median duration of ❑arriage prior to divorce: United States and each State or

territory, selected years l87O-l967--------------------------------------------- 40

Percent distribution of divorces by duration of marriage prior to divorce: United

States, selected years l87O-l967------------------------------------------------ 41

41

15. Divorces and percent distribution by duration of marriage and of separation:

United States, l887-l9O6--------------------------------------------------------

16. Median and quartile duration of marriage and of separation: United States and

each State and territory, l887-l9O6--------------------------------------------- 42

Percent of divorced couples married in the State where divorce was grante& United

States, each region, division,and State or territory, selected years 1870-1965--

17.

43

45

18.

19.

Mean number of children per divorce with children reported: United States, selected years l867-l967----------------------------------------------------------

Mean number of children per divorce with children reported: United States, each

region, division, and State or territory, selected years 1870-1967-------------- 46

Divorces and percent distribution by legal grounds:United States, selected years

l867-l965-----------------------------------------------------------------------

20.

21.

48

Percent of divorces granted to wife: United States, each region, division, and

State or territory, selected years 1870-1965------------------------------------ 50

22. Median and quartile duration of marriage prior to divorce, by party to whom decree granted: United States, selected years 1870-1965--------------------------- 52

23. Median age of brides and grooms: United States, each region, division,and State,

selected years l94O-67----------------------------------------------------------- 53

55

24. Median age of brides and grooms for all marriages, first marriages, and remarriages: 22 States, l954-67------------------------------------------------------

21
Table 1. Marriages, divorces, and rates: United States, 1867-1967

[All totals rounded andtinclude estimates. Marriage figures include marriage licenses from some States; divorce figures include rgported annulments. For population bases, see appendix II. Rates per 1,000 population]

Year

1967-----------

1966-----------

1965-----------

1964-----------

1963-----------

1962-----------

1961-----------

1960-----------

1959-----------

1958-----------

1957-----------

1956-----------

1955-----------

1954-----------

1953-----------

1952-----------

1951-----------

1950-----------

1949-----------

1948-----------

1947-----------

1946-----------

1945-----------

1944-----------

1943-----------

1942-----------

1941-----------

1940-----------

1939-----------

1938-----------

1937-----------

1936-----------

1935-----------

1934-----------

1933-----------

1932-----------

1931-----------

1930-----------

1929-----------

1928-----------

1927-----------

1926-----------

1925-----------

1924-----------

1923-----------

1922-----------

1921-----------

1920-----------

1919-----------

1918-----------

1917-----------

Marriage

Number

1,927,000

1,857,000

1,800,000

1,725,000

1,654,000

1,577,000

1,548,000

1,523,000

1,494,000

1,451,000

1,518,000

1,585,000

1,531,000

1,490,000

1,546,000

1,539,000

1,595,000

1,667,000

1,580,000

1,811,000

1,992,000

2,291,000

1,613,000

1,452,000

1,577,000

1,772,000

1,696,000

1,596,000

1,404,000

1,331,000

1,451,000

1,369,000

1,327,000

1,302,000

1,098,000

982,000

1,061,000

1,127,000

1,233,000

1,182,000

1,201,000

1,203,000

1,188,000

1,185,000

1,230,000

1,134,000

1,164,000

1,274,000

1,150,000

1,000,000

1,144,000

%ate

9.7

9.5

9.3

9.0

8.8

8.5

8.5

8.5

8.5

8.4

8.9

9.5

9.3

9.2

9.8

1;:?

11.1

10.6

12.4

13.9

16.4

12.2

10.9

11.7

13.2

12.7

12.1

10.7

10.3

11.3

10.7

10.4

10.3

8.7

7.9

8.6

1:::

9.8

10.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

11.0

10.3

10.7

12.0

11.0

1?:1

Divorce

Number

523,000

499,000

479,000

$50,000

428,000

413,000

414,000

393,000

395,000

368,000

381,000

382,000

377,000

379,000

390,000

392,000

381,000

385,000

397,000

408,000

483,000

610,000

485,000

400,000

359,000

321,000

293,000

264,000

;:;,;())

249:000

236,000

218,000

204,000

165,000

164,000

188,000

196,000

206,000

200,000

196,000

185,000

175,000

171,000

165,000

149,000

160,000

171,000

142,000

116,000

122,000

Rate

2.6

2.5

2.5

2.4

2.3

;:;

2.2

2.2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.5

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

u

;:;

2.6

2.4

M

1.9

1.9

1.9

1.8

1.7

1.6

1.3

1.3

1.5

H

1.7

1.6

1.6

1.5

1.5

1.5

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.3

1.1

1.2

Year

1916----------

1915----------’

1914----------

1913----------

1912----------

L911----------

1910----------

1909----------

1908----------

1907----------

1906----------

1905----------

1904----------

1903----------

1902----------

1901----------

1900----------

1899----------

1898----------

1897----------

1896----------

1895----------

1894----------

1893----------

1892----------

1891----------

1890----------

1889----------

1888----------

1887----------

1886----------

1885----------

1884----------

1883----------

1882----------

1881----------

1880----------

1879----------

1878----------

1877----------

1876----------

1875----------

1874----------

1873----------

1872----------

1871----------

1870----------

1869----------

1868----------

1867----------

Marriage

Number

1,076,000

L,008,000

L,025,000

L,021,000

L,005,000

955,000

948,000

897,000

857,000

937,000

895,000

842,000

815,000

818,000

776,000

742,000

709,000

673,000

647,000

643,000

635,000

620,000

588,000

601,000

601,000

592,000

570,000

563,000

535,000

513,000

534,000

507,000

485,000

501,000

484,000

464,000

453,000

438,000

423,000

411,000

405,000

409,000

385,000

386,000

378,000

359,000

352,000

348,000

345,000

357,000

late

NOTE: Alaska included beginning in 1959; Hawaii included beginning in 1960.

LO.6

LO.O

LO.3

L0,5

LO.5

LO.2

LO.3

9.9

L%i

10.5

LO.O

L~:?

9.8

9.6

9.3

%:

8.9

R

8.6

;.;

.

9.2

9.0

::;

8.7

u

8.8

9.3

9.2

9.0

.?::

::;

8.8

%;

9.0

9.0

8.8

8.8

8.9

9.0

9.6

Divorce

Wmb er

.14,000

.04,000

.01,000

91,000

94,000

89,000

83,000

80,000

77,000

77,000

72,000

68,000

66,000

65,000

61,000

61,000

56,000

51,000

48,000

45,000

43,000

40,000

38,000

37,000

37,000

36,000

33,000

32,000

29,000

28,000

26,000

23,000

23,000

23,000

22,000

21,000

20,000

17,000

16,000

16,000

15,000

14>000

14,000

13,000

12,000

12,000

11,000

11,000

10,000

10,000

late

1.1

1.0

k;

1.0

:::

0.9

0.9

0.9

0.8

0.8

M

0.8

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.6

0.6

M

0.6

0.6

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.4

0.4

:::

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.3

0,3

0.3

0.3

0.3

0.3

0“3

0.3

$:

0.3

22
*

Table 2. Reported annulments: all reporting States. California. New York, and all

othhrs, 1~26-67 -

Year

1967------------------------------

1966------------------------------

1965------------------------------

1964------------------------------

1963------------------------------

1962------------------------------

1961------------------------------

1960------------------------------

1959------------------------------

1958------------------------------

1957------------------------------

1956------------------------------

1955------------------------------

:;;;------------------------------

------------------------------

1952------------------------------

1951------------------------------

1950------------------------------

1949------------------------------

1948------------------------------

;;:;------------------------------

------------------------------

1945------------------------------

1944------------------------------

1943------------------------------

1942------------------------------

1941------------------------------

1933-40---------------------------

1932------------------------------

1931----------------.-------------

1930------------------------------

1929------------------------------

1928------------------------------

1927------------------------------

1926------------------------------

Total

15,132

14,669

15,418

13,940

12,701

12,692

11,520

11,181

12,603

12,541

8,231

7,770

7,687

7,865

7,898

7,744

7,843

10,848

6,895

7,208

7,324

9,898

1,972

963

891

725

627

---

3,903

4,339

4,370

4,408

4,237

;,;;;

Y

California

6,861

6,480

6,935

6,587

6,134

5,984

5,643

5,466

35,460

5,107

5,063

5,010

4,705

4,820

4,807

4,716

4,805

4,471

4,795

4,937

J:%

---

---

---

---

---

---

1,267

1,499

1,476

1,476

1,441

1,629

1,282

lCountingthe District of Columbia as a State.

~Estimated.

‘incomplete.

New York

2,523

2,832

3,035

2;;;::

32 331

32’310

;2:569

2,905

3,417

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

33,609

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

1,025

1,049

1,030

1,029

990

872

964

Al1

other

reporting

States

5,748

5,357

5,448

4,756

4,283

;,y;

3;146

4,238

4,017

3,168

2,760

2,982

3,045

3,091

3,028

3,038

2,769

2,100

2,271

2,100

2,598

1,;;:

891

725

627

---

1,611

1,791

1,864

1,903

1,806

:,;;;

3

Number of

States

reportingI

NOTE: Alaska included beginning in 1959; Hawaii included beginning in 1960.

23
●

Table 3. Marriage rates for unmarried women aged 15 and over: United States, 1940-67 and selected census years

[Theunmarriedincludesingle,widowed,and divorcedpersons.For populationbases,seeappendix11.Ratesper 1,000unmarriedwomen]

Year

1967-----------------------

1966-----------------------

1965-----------------------

1964-----------------------

1963-----------------------

1962-----------------------

1961-----------------------

1960-----------------------

1959-----------------------

;;;;-----------------------

.........---------.....

1956-----------------------

1955-----------------------

1954-----------------------

1953-----------------------

1952-----------------------

1951-----------------------

1950-----------------------

1949-----------------------

Rate

76.4

75.6

75.0

74.6

73.4

71.2

72.2

73.5

73.6

72.0

78.0

82.4

80.9

79.8

83.7

83.2

86.6

90.2

86.7

Year

1948---------------------

1947---------------------

1946---------------------

1945---------------------

1944---------------------

1943---------------------

1942---------------------

1941---------------------

1940---------------------

1930---------------------

1920---------------------

1910---------------------

1900---------------------

1890---------------------

Rate

98.5

106.2

118.1

83.6

76.5

83.0

93.0

88.5

82.8

67.8

92.3

77.1

68.2

67.4

NOTE: Alaska included beginning in 1959; Hawaii included beginning in 1960.

Table 4. Divorce rates for married women aged 15 and over: United States, 1920-67 and selected

census years

(For . population . bases,seeappendix . . 11.Rateslrer1,000marriedwomenl

Year

1967-----------------------

1966-----------------------

1965-----------------------

1964-----------------------

1963-----------------------

1962-----------------------

1961-----------------------

1960-----------------------

1959-----------------------

1958-----------------------

1957-----------------------

1956-----------------------

1955---------.”------------

1954-----------------------

1953-----------------------

1952-----------------------

1951-----------------------

1950-----------------------

1949-----------------------

1948-----------------------

1947-----------------------

1946-----------------------

1945-----------------------

1944-----------------------

1943-----------------------

1942-----------------------

1941-----------------------

Rate

11.2

10.9

10.6

10.0

9.6

9.4

9.6

9.2

9.3

8-.9

9.2

9,4

9.3

9.5

1::?

1;:;

10.6

11.2

13.6

17.9

14.4

12.0

11.0

10.1

9.4

. .

Year

;;;:---------------------

--.----- -------- -----

1938---------------------

1937---------------------

1936---------------------

1935---------------------

1934---------------------

1933---------------------

1932---------------------

1931---------------------

1930---------------------

1929---------------------

1928---------------------

1927---------------------

1926---------------------

1925---------------------

1924---------------------

1923---------------------

1922---------------------

1921---------------------

1920---------------------

1910---------------------

1900---------------------

1890---------------------

8.8

8.5

8.4

8.7

8.3

7.8

::?

6.1

7,1

7.5

8.0

7.8

7.8

7.5

7.2

7.2

7.1

6.6

:::

4.7

4.1

3.0

NOTE: Alaska included beginning in 1959; Hawaii included beginning in 1960.
Table 5. Marriages and percent distributionby area of occurrence:United States, each region and

division, selected years 1870-1967

[National totafsfor years prior to1950were reestimatedizr 1950. Hence tiere~ondt ot&donotn ecesstiIya dduptot henationdtot&.Percentages are based on sums of regional figures]

Area

United Statesl---------------------

Region

Northeast-------.-----.-----.----.-------

Nomr;;Central----------------------------

------------------------------------

West--------.---------------------------

Division

New England------------------------------

Middle Atlantic --------------------------

East North Central-----------------------

West North Central-----------------------

South Atlantic---------------------------

East South Central-----------------------

West South Central-----------------------

Mountain---------------------------.-----

Pacific---------------------------------

united states ----------------------

Northeast--------------------------------

North Central---------------------------

south------------------------------------

Division

New England.........------------------.-.-

Mtddle Atlantic --------------------------

East North Central-----------------------

West North Central-----------------------

South Atlantic---------------------------

East South Central-----------------------

West South Central-----------------------

Mountain---------------------------------

Pacific----------------------------.-----

1967 1960 1950 1940 1930

Number

1,927,000

92,855

277,913

355,871

141,843

333,827

135,824

1;;::;::

212,842

100.0

19.2

25.8

35.3

19.7

4.8

14.4

18.5

1;::

l~:j

.

11.0

1,523.000

311,481

403,595 1534,201

1274,104

76,206

235,275

283,285

120,310

1261,885

111O,3O(-J

162,016 1122,818

151,286

1,667,000

365,538

454,629

1;;;:$;;

88.503

277;035

317,344

137,285

265,061

1:;;;;<;

132,594

125,098

1,596,000

89,526

1;;::;:;

1193,272

1242,927

1175,098

1190,906”

ll~l,ozz

77,367

Percent distribution

100.0

20.4

26.5

35.1

18.0

5.0

15.4

18.6

1;:;

1::;

8.1

9.9

100.0

21.9

27.3

35.4

15.5

5.3

16.6

19.0

1::;

1:::

8.0

7.5

100.0

21.8

28.2

38.2

11.8

12:;

16.1

12.1

15.2

11.0

12.0

;::

1,127,000

57,520

211,441

217,863

118,512

160,752

105.237

127;805

51,622

76,104

100.0

23.9

29.9

34.9

11.3

1;:;

19.3

10.5

14.3

1:::

6:8

See footnotesat end of table.

L

25
Table 5. Marriages and percent distribution by area of occurrence: United States, each region and

division, selected years 1870-1967-Con.

[National totals for years prior to1950were reestimated in1950. Hence there@ond totalsdo notnecesstiIyadd uptothe nationdtotals. Percentages are based on sums of regional figures]

Area

United States -------------..------

Region

Northeast -------- --------........--------

North Central----------------------------

south------------------------------------

West -------------------------------------

Division

New England ------------------------------

Middle Atlantic --------------------------

East North Central-----------------------

West North Central-----------------------

South Atlantic ---------------------------

East South Central-----------------------

West South Central -----------------------

Mountain ---------------------------------

Pacific .............................--.--

United States----------------------

Region

Northeast ................................

North Central...........................-

South---------------.-----.---------- ....

West -------------------------------------

Division

New England------------------------------

Middle Atlantic --------------------------

East North Central-----------------------

West North Central-----------------------

South Atlantic ---------------------------

East South Central-----------------------

West South Central-----------------------

Mountain ---------------------------------

Pacific----------------------------------

—

1916 1900 1890 1880 I

1870

1,076,000

272,275

336,992

2373,822

85,761

71,599

200,676

213,097

123,895

:;;,;;;

3116:778

::,;;;

a

100.0

25.5

31.5

35.0

8.0

6.7

18.8

19.9

11.6

14.7

1::;

::?

709,000

174,394

240,709

252,165

35,957

47,639

126,755

148,172

92,537

‘101,296

78,333

72,536

15,478

220,479

Number

570,000

147,022

205,290

183,714

27,126

242,789

104,233

u;,;::

275:562

60,758

47,394

U,21O

215,916

453,000

2158,85;

1168,848

‘13,952

‘33,918

298,49;

*

259,39:

139,180

28,85;

Percent distribution

100.0

24.8

34.2

35.9

5.1

6.8

18.0

21:1

13.2

14.4

11.1

1;.;

2:9

100.0

26.1

36.5

32.6

4.8

22.7

13.8

13.4

10.8

100.0

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

it

*

*

*

*

*

352,000

2120,76;

‘8,162

234,410

---

‘75,617

*

’50,63:

*

‘5,76;

100.0

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

lEstimated.

‘Incomplete.

31nclu~ing estimates for nonreporting areas.

26
Table 6. Divorces and percent distributionby area of occurrence: United States, each region and division,

selected years 1870-1967

[National totak for years prior to 1950 were reestimated in 1950. Hence the regional totsls” do not necessarily add up to the national totak. Percentages are based

Area

on sums of regioml figures]

1967 1960 1950 1940 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Number

United Statesl- 523,000 393,000 385,000 264,000 196,000 114,000 56.000 33.000 20,000 11.000

Region

151,000

1144,000

1194,000

1134,000

218,167

33,053

1105,888

38,419

82,412

38,887

969,458

239,691

92,895

100.0

239,000

\06,000

1152,000

196,000

212,842

26,255

177,639

228,533

55,526

239,138

255,000

228,846

66,395

100.0

143,301

1107,981

1149,958

183,904

14,027

129,274

)7,279

30,702

153,722

130,736

165,500

‘27,931

55,973

100.0

134,015

180,765

197,768

150,985

9,715

~24,300

153,853

126,912

132,630

119,307

145,831

116,966

134,019

Northeast----------

North Central------

South--------------

West---------------

23,961

73,402

60,659

33,569

8,248

15,713

50,091

23,311

14,981

15,283

30,395

10,762

22,807

15,157

45,249

34,562

217,068

5,739

9,418

28,837

16,412

27,336

29,939

%7,287

5,947

11,121

8,244

25,056

17,101

35,884

3,669

4,575

15>754

9,302

3,487

6,119

7,495

2,123

33,761

100.0

5,133

16,100

38,970

33,640

2,513

2,620

9,849

6,251

31,885

33,733

3,352

1,502

32,138

100.0

4,225

29,670

34,598

21,464

2,305

1,920

:,799

2,871

2969

%,976

31,653

2542

2922

100.0

3,145

25,622

31,944

3625

1,702

1,443

:4,290

‘1,332

3603

3982

3359

3248

2377

100.0

Divisi,on

New England--------

Middle Atlantic----

East North CentralWest North CentralSouth Atlantic-----

East South CentraiWest South CentralMountain-----------

Pacific------------

Percent distribution

United States-- 100.0 100.0 100.0

Region

14.6

44.5

30.4

10.5

6.5

8.1

28.0

16.5

6.2

10.9

13.3

3.8

6.7

15.2

47.6

26.5

10.8

7.4

7.7

29.1

18.5

5.6

11.0

9.9

4.4

6.3

21.2

48.5

23.0

7.3

11.5

9.6

34.1

14.4

4.9

9.9

8.3

2.7

4.6

27.7

49.6

17.1

5.5

15.0

12.7

37.8

11.8

5.3

8.7

3.2

2.2

3.3

Northeast----------

North Central------

South--------------

9.8

27.5

37.1

25.6

3.5

6.3

20.2

7.3

15.8

7.4

13.3

7.6

17.8

9.9

27.0

38.7

24.4

3.3

6.7

19.8

7.3

14.1

10.0

14.0

7.3

16.9

11.2

28.0

38.9

21.8

3.6

7.6

20.1

8.0

13.9

8.0

17.0

7.3

14.5

12.9

30.6

37.1

19.3

12.5

38.3

31.7

17.5

4.3

8.2

26.1

12.2

7.8

8.0

15.9

5.6

11.9

13.5

40;4

30.8

15.2

5.1

8.4

25.7

14.6

6.5

8.9

15.4

5.3

9.9

West ---------------

Division

New England--------

Middle Atlantic----

East North CentralWest North CentralSouth Atlantic-----

East South CentralWest South CentralMountain-----------

Pacific------------

3.7

9.2

20.4

10.2

12.4

7.3

17.4

6.4

12.9

1

~Estimated.

Incomplete. 31ncj_udingestimatesfOr nOnrepCJrtingareas.

27
Table 7. Marriage rates: United States, each region, division, and State or territory, selected

years 1870-1967

[The population for 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 was enumerated as of Jun. 1: for 1930, 19-!0, 1950, and 1960, it was enumerated as of April 1; for

1967 itwasestimatcd as of July l;andfor 1916thc rates \,crere\,iscdsubscquentt othccensusf or1920.R atesperl, OOOpopulationJ

Area

United Statesl--

Region

Northeast-----------

NoSO~~Central-------

---------------

West----------------

Division

New England---------

Middle Atlarrtic-----

East North Central--

West North Central--

South Atlantic ------

East South Central--

West South Central--

Mountain ------------

Pacific -------------

New England

Maine ---------------

New Hampshire -------

Vermont -------------

Massachusetts -------

Rhode Island --------

Connecticut ---------

Middle Atlantic

New York ------------

New Jersey ----------

Pennsylvania --------

East North Central

Ohio ----------------

Indiana-------------

Illinois------------

Michigan ------------

Wisconsin -----------

West North Central

Minnesota -----------

Iowa----------------

Missouri------------

North Dakota--------

South Dakota--------

Nebraska------------

Kansas------:-------

1967 1960 1950 1940 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Rate

9.7

7.7

1?:! 111.5

8.2

H

8.9

11.3

10.5

1;;::

8.4

1;::

9.3

7.6

7.3

7.7

7.9

7.0

7.3

1::;

9.7

9.8

7.3

i::

9.6

1::?

9.1

8.8

8.5

;$

19.7

19.8

;:;

7.8

7.8

110.1

19.2

ll; :;

7.1

1::;

8.4

6.6

6.8

7.1

::2

6.3

H

8.7

::;

6.9

3:::

6.4

8.5

7..5

7.3

11,1

1;:;

112.5

13.2

9.5

1%:

12::

1;;:;

26.1

8.6

9.4

14.3

9.4

H

9.7

9.5

9.6

8.5

9.5

415.7

11007

9.1

8.5

410.4

10.5

8.7

1::;

10.4

9.7

12.1

ll!:;

‘14.6

113.5

10.6

9.4

19.6

114.3

113.6

116.2

‘14.6

126.7

7.9

12.0

12.3

13.7

10.4

1::;

9.8

4;:;

12.1

111.6

‘8.0

8.8

7.5

‘9.8

g::

6.5

1;:;

11.8

9.2

;:;

10.4

10.7

;::

;:;

10.1

10.6

10.5

13.9

9.2

1?::

:::

:::

9.3

;:;

41:::

9.9

6.1

5.2

8.8

::2

;::

7.4

10.6

10.6

G::

~12.1

~lo.7

10.1

1::;

%;

%2.1

%2.3

~11.9

29.9

1::;

14.9

9.4

1?::

1%:

8.6

R:z

hl.1

11.9

7.3

~lo.1

21;::

7.9

1::;

10.4

9.3

8.3

IJ:;

18.8

8.5

;::

2::;

310.4

311-1

2;:;

;:?

;:?

9.2

7.7

8.8

7.8

7.7

1%:

9.2

9.6

7.5

::;

3;:;

;:;

9.9

9.0

18.4

9.2

39.2

18.7

29.1

“:::

2::;

39*5

310,f)

2;::

---

9.6

::;

9.2

8.4

1;::

7.5

1::;

9.9

8.9

9.3

k;

39.9

36.7

5.7

;::

9.0

*

29.1

;;.;

.

28.5

38.;

*

%0.;

211.8

27.;

---

:::

1::;

7.6

---

7.3

*

21;:;

39.2

%;

28.8

*

*

---

---

37*3

29.0

8.8

————

~9.;

28.;

29.9

---

38.’3

*

w.;

*

28.;

---

---

1::?

10.9

9.8

---

---

*

%:::

.

3;:;

a7.g

*

*

---

---

29.3

%0.1

See footnotes at end of table,

28
Table 7, Marriage rates: United States, each region, division, and State or territory, selected

years 1870-1967—Con.

[The population for 1870,1880,1890, and 1900 was enumeratedas of June 1; for 1930,1940,1950, and 1960, it was enumeratedas of April 1; for

1967 it was estimatedas of July 1; and for 1916 the rateswere revisedsubsequentto the census for 1920. Rates per 1,000 population]

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware ------------

Maryland ------------

District of

Columbia-----------

Virginia ------------

West Virginia -------

North Carolina ------

South Carolina ------

Georgia-------------

Florida -------------

East South Central

Kentucky------------

Tennessee -----------

Alabama -------------

Mississippi ---------

West South Central

Arkansas ------------

Louisiana -----------

Oklahoma------------

Texas---------------

Mountain

Montana -------------

Idaho---------------

Wyoming -------------

Colorado------------

New Mexico ----------

Arizona -------------

Utah ----------------

Nevada --------------

Pacific .

Washington ----------

Oregon --------------

California ----------

Alaska --------------

Hawaii--------------

1967 1960 1950 1940

6.5

13.3

9.4

10.7

7.9

1::;

12.7

9.4

49.2

10.3

12.0

10.0

10.6

1;:;

11.3

8.0

20.1

11.6

410.9

19.7

1%:

‘198.2

‘4~2.o

7.3

R

9.7

1;:;

411.3

9.5

1,4;:;

16.4

12.5

7.9

18.7

8.6

‘%;

310.3

1;:;

39.6

1;:;

1,4;:;

11.6

:::

~208.1

49.9

6.o

::;

8.3

,

42;:;

412.;

11.1

~8.f

47.:

421.$

‘@J

10.C

1,411.2

6.6

7.5

26.0

-!27.o

110.0

110.0

411.6

12.2

14.2

12.2

410.4

33.3

26.7

‘!10.3

4311.5

414.5

;:2

713.4

711.2

18.1

21.6

%1. 7

19.7

1$;

122.7

112.5

17.2

126.8

110.5

12.0.

15.6

122.4

11.6

14.3

113.5

115.6

16.9

1;.;

22:9

47.4

15.0

354.0

115.1

2::

713,()

712.6

1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Rate

4.7

15.(

11.C

1;::

1%;

10.4

11.6

11.9

1;::

12.8

13.5

1%;

7.7

10.1

10.1

J:!

20.5

17.6

11.1

67.0

11.7

8.0

8.7

---

---

9.?

14.f

10.E

~9.E 211.$

311.4

---

212.9

217.2

210.8 212.6

2:::;

‘2’14 .7

%1.1

210..8

%2. 5

&:;

%1.1

?10.3

~lo.4

H

12.7

10.8

27.3

10.2

---

---

6.7

9.0

11.3

1;::

9.0

---

39.9

311.7

38.7

310.4

11.2

11.7

3;;.;

3,f310:1

311.4

H

J::

6.7

3;:;

~15.4

9.1

M

---

---

5.!

37.1

6.:

;:!

38.(

---

39.:

%1.1

7.5

39.;

%0. 6

31O.C

311.c

38.6

3,62.6

310.8

3;::

1;::

;:;

311.0

25.5

9.6

?:;

---

---

--- ---

57..4 58.1

9.11 12.1

--- ---

--- ---

29.0 *

--- ---

229.5 29.9 39.8 211.7

28.6 29.5

%0. 5 2%1.2

---

211.: 214.6

13.0 *

* *

--q ---

hi. 5 ‘214.3

28.5

‘27.0

28.5

28.4

--- t

--- I

23.8

24.4

210.1

28.3

- --

---

--- ---

35.3 25.8

* *

37.; 38.;

--- ---

--- ---

lEstimated. %,Excludingnonreporting counties.

31ncomplete.

~~rria~ licenses.

5Excluding marriages celebrated by publication of bonds.

61ncluding Indian TerritQrY, where the rate was 12.3 in 1900 and 2.1 in 1890;

was 9.5 in 1900 and 3.6 in 1890.

in Oklahoma it

‘Not included in totals.

29
Table 8. Marriage rates for unmarried men and women aged 15 and over: United States, each region,

division, and State or territory, selected census years 1890-1960

[Theunmarried include single, widowed, and divorced persons. For population bases, see appendix II. Ratesper1,000po@.rlation]

Area

United Statesl----

Region

Northeast ---------------

North Central -----------

south -------------------

West --------------------

Division

New England -------------

Middle Atlantic ---------

East North Central ------

West North Central ------

South Atlantic ----------

East South Central ------

West South Central ------

Mountain ----------------

Pacific -----------------

New England

Maine -------------------

New Hampshire -----------

Vermont -----------------

Massachusetts -----------

Rhode Island------------

. Connecticut -------------

Middle Atlantic

New York ----------------

New Jersey--------------

Pennsylvania- -----------

East North Central

Ohio --------------------

Indiana-----------------

Illinois----------------

Michigan ----------------

Wisconsin--+-----------

West North Central

Minnesota--- ------------

Iowa--------------------

Missouri----------------

North Dakota------------

south Dakota------------

Nebraska----------------

Kansas------------------

1960 1950 1940

Men Women Men Women Men Women

Rate

88.1

69.4

11:::$

197.1

70.0

69.1

84.1

%:;

198.3

106.2

1192.5

69.3

79.3

120.2

80.6

62.2

61.5

72.9

72.3

69.0

64.4

78.6

102.4

88.4

86.0

62.7

69.3

98.2

288.0

57.2

82.6

80.2

80.0

73.5

53.3

69.6

187.3

192.7

54.1

53.0

69.8

69.1

189.2

180.4

% :?

65.5

68.2

98.3

65.6

45.7

50.5

58.1

54.4

55.0

49.8

62.2

83.5

72.4

75.5

55.4

60.6

79.4

267.5

65.0

85.3

68.8

69.2

77.9

192.4

1122.6

1115.5

77

78

=95

86

’118

1119

1131

235

175

.0

.1

.3

.4

.7

.1

.4

.3

.0

82.4

120.7

79.0

70.9

73.0

79.6

80.5

83.7

72.3

90.6

3153.0

~93.4

83.9

71.7

385.3

96.8

82.5

60.5

83.5

90.1

91.2

90.2

64.9

185.2

1110.5

=117.9

63.2

65.5

87.0

181.5

’106.2

1104.9

=122.0

g::.;

.

73.5

103.8

70.4

55.2

64.3

68.1

65.6

71.6

62.4

77.5

5137.3

‘82.8

84.2

70.4

‘84.3

:;.:

80:4

101.8

89.3

85.4

83.4

61.9

‘75.8

1113.2

185.5

67.1

60.3

165.4

‘96.2

‘101.8

%32.4 1114.4

‘179.8

48.8

81.6

79.9

87.5

65.0

54.2

63.4

62.5

63.9

‘55.8

84.1

184.9

353.0

60.1

47.4

159.2

131.9

1137.9

38.0

40.0

83.2

84.6

82.8

57.9

177.9

1109.4

198.6

!59.7

57.3

‘67.0

199.6

197.0 112501

~114.9

12;:.;

.

82.0

75.8

‘92.1

54.8

47.3

59.4

58.2

60.3

954.5

*

82.0

185.6

352.2

68.3

51.7

See footnotes at end of table.

30

..
Table 8. Marriage rates for unmarriedmen and women aged 15 and over: United States, each region,

division, and State or territory, selected census years 1890-1960—Con.

[The unmarried include siigle, widowed, and divorced persons. For population bases, see appendix II. Rates per 1,000 population]

Area

United StatesL----

Region

- Northeast---------------

North Central-----------

south-------------------

West--------------------

Division

New England-------------

Middle Atlantic---------

East North Central------

West North Central------

South Atlantfc----------

East South Central------

West South Central------

Mountain----------------

Pactfic-----------------

New England

Maine-------------------

New Hampshire-----------

Vemnt-----------------

Massachusetts-----------

Rhode Island------------

Connecticut-------------

Middle Atlantic

New York----------------

New Jersey--------------

Pennsylvania------------

East North Central

Ohio--------------------

Indiana-----------------

Illinois----------------

Michigan----------------

Wisconsin---------------

West North Central

Minnesota---------------

Iowa--------------------

Missouri----------------

North Dakota------------

South Dakota ------------

Nebraska----------------

Kansas------------------

1930 1900 1890

Men Women Men Women Men Women

Rate

52.9

59.8

82.1

64.8

48.1

54.4

59.5

60.5

79.3

88.2

81.2

89.6

54..5

;;.:

48;5

43.6

49.1

47.2

61.0

49.0

47.4

63.7

89.2

66.1

41.6

33.6

54.3

58.3

69.1

32.9

59.0

51.3

76.4

67.8

51.2

66.3

82.8

83.6

42.8

54.1

65.8

67.2

76.7

85.7

89.1

125.7

68.1

;;.;

52:8

36.6

41.5

44.9

59.9

48.8

47.9

66.1

;;.:

53:3

39.3

62.5

62.9

69.1

46.9

80.6

58.8

85.0

61.3

53.1

58.9

76.6

40.3

53.1

53.0

60.8

56.1

172.3

278.4

281.,3

45.4

=37.1

49.9

59.9

54.4

54.3

56.7

46.8

55.9

52.1

49.9

59.9

74.0

58.7

64.1

48.5

43.8

56.5

64.6

239.4

46.0

52.2

64.8

68.2

51.4

70.8

80.3

77.2

48.6

52.6

68.8

%:

280.2

=100.0

94.6

167.7

51.8

58.5

59.4

$:.;

45:6

52.9

50.7

52.8

62.3

82.9

68.0

77.1

58.7

64.9

69.9

75.2

283.1

76.6

77.6

86.1

59.9

53.9

59.5

71.4

35.2

156.5

52.9

62.3

‘2:::

74.0

78.0

39.0

132.9

---

59.7

55.0

56.9

58.0

51.3

52.0

71.8

48.9

60.2

69.5

62.8

58.8

61.1

44.7

56.7

264.6

238.5

36.0

47.9

60.7

67.4

51.4

74.2

72.8

87.9

‘50.4

51.8

72.1

77.8

‘62.4

74.1

96.4

107.9

177.8

---

55.7

58.6

47.9

49.1

47.2

62.2

77.5

75.0

77.0

77.2

68.8

72.8

279.1

283.1

71.5

83.7

88;7

See footnotesat end of table.

31
Table 8. Marriage rates for unmarried men and women aged 15 and over: United States, each region,

division, and State or territory, selected census years 1890-1960—Con.

[Theunmarried include single, widowed, and divorced persons. For population bases, see appendix II. Rstes per 1,000 population]

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware ----------------

Maryland ----------------

District of Columbia----

Virginia ----------------

West Virginia -----------

North Carolina----------

South Carolina----------

Georgia-----------------

Florida-----------------

East South Central

Kentucky ----------------

Tennessee ---------------

Alabama -----------------

Mississippi -------------

West South Central

Arkansas ---------- ------

Louisiana ---------------

Oklahoma ----------------

Texas -------------------

Mountain

Montana-----------------

Idaho-------------------

Wyoming-----------------

Colorado----------------

New Mexico--------------

Arizona-----------------

Utah--------------------

Nevada------------------

Pacific

Washington --------------

Oregon ------------------

California --------------

Alaska ------------------

Hawaii ------------------

1960 1950 1940

Men Women Men Women Men Women

Rate

59.7

137.2

‘89.7

;:.:

US72:8

163.8

137.6

87.9

‘87.9

93.0

110.8

104.5

=112.2

81.2

131.4

2107.1

84.3

166.1

106.4

l@97.o

129.8

83.2

95.8

‘1,883.6

‘98.2

65.0

65.6

54.3

57.2

50.6

119.7

‘61.9

86.3

63.2

1,363.2

144.4

109.4

73.1

‘78.3

73.3

85.8

87.1

293.5

65.1

109.9

291.8

92.8

175.7

119.4

1>385.3

134.6

81.7

85.3

32,366.7

%;.:

59:8

152.5

87.9

76.8

3195.4

399.5

94.2

‘82.4

371.0

3222.6

3132.2

99.2

3105.1

66.8

79.9

279.4

93.2

134.7

92.5

~Ps93.2

314.1

252.7

3108.4

‘2,359.1

66.4

5177.3

369.4

94.9

979.2

364.7

‘188.3

3112.4

85.6

Woo. 7

56.7

66.6

250.3

128.7

168.1

151.9

1,s90.1

360.2

258.5

‘108.9

33,482.7

3141.9

73.7

61.6

‘212.5

6101.2

117.6

142.2

374.2

1::.:

.

‘33.2

‘184.8

1103.0

130.4

‘205.9

’84.4

101.6

134.4

1181.9

91.6

+;:::

186.3

111.9

68.6

45.9

176.6

330.4

116.5

1,793.8

1S389.3

34.8

40.3

‘52.8

‘550.1

120.2

143.6

359.1

139.5

%:!

%64. 7

190.0

123.2

1209.9

177.2

91.9

126.6

2189.6

86.5

117.0

1104.4

‘129.8

160.6

112.9

48.7

206.3

;;;.:

3,503:3

1’31:13.7

41.6

43.3

%59.7

‘1:L3.7

See footnotes at end of table.

32
Table 8. Marriage rates for unmarried men and women aged 15 and over: United States, each region,

division, and State or territory, selected census years 1890-1960—Con.

[TheunmarriedincludesingIe, widowed,anddivorcedpersons.Forpopulation bases,seeappendixII.Ratesper1,000population]

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware----------------

Maryland----------------

District of Columbia----

Virginia----------------

West Virginia-----------

North Carolina----------

South Carolina----------

Georgia-----------------

Florida-----------------

East South Central

Kentucky----------------

Tennessee---------------

Alabama-----------------

Mississippi-------------

West South Central

Arkansas----------------

Louisiana---------------

Oklahoma----------------

Texas-------------------

Mountain

Montana-----------------

Idaho-------------------

Wyoming-----------------

Colorado----------------

New Mexico--------------

Arizona-----------------

Utah--------------------

Nevada -----------------

Pacific

Washington-- ------------

Oregon ------------------

California --------------

Alaska ------------------

Hawaii ------------------

%stimated.

‘Incomplete.

3Marriaze licenses.

1930 1900 1890

Men Women Men Women Men Women

Rate

31.3

102.9

72,6

73.1

79.5

38.6

127.7

85.2

89.7

96.3

64.9

88.1

109.1

112.2

77.9

120.0

58.1

54.4

64.8

43.2

77.8

151.7

113.5

83.9

279.4

68.0

;:.;

.

---

- --

34.3

105.0

56.6

73.6

95.4

36.1

111.1

76.2

92.2

100.2

61.6

81.8

105.8

122.0

75.4

146.2

64.5

95.0

101.6

87.1

89.7

196.6

169.1

95.7

687.8

---

-- -

42.7

59.4

66.4

62.3

68.5

72.9

---

281.6

278.3

262.8

276.8

88.6

92.1

298.6

268.5

2~470.8

282.6

30.5

::.;

52:5

46.4

39.3

271.9

+54.9

38.1

39.5

135.8

---

---

46.5

56.0

51.8

60.5

84.7

66.0

---

277.4

2102.5

267.1

278.6

86.5

93.4

=119.5

269.2

2’4122.7

2104.0

109.6

110.0

128.7

90.6

76.0

101.6

%:;

100.9

78.0

157.6

---

---

35.0

249.6

37.5

56.5

62.3

266.7

---

278.4

281.0

57.2

275.0

288.9

283.1

290.8

267.7

‘JS27.7

277.6

27.4

230.8

21.7

42.9

45.6

=%: ;

117.2

34.2

39.6

130.2

---

---

,

38.0

245.8

29.0

52.4

69.7

258.4

---

275.3

298.0

60.5

274.6

284.2

282.4

2116.5

264.6

‘~365.8

2106.8

141.5

~122.2

103.8

116.2

78.2

%~:;

.

137.6

%:;

---

---

41ncludingIndian Territory,where the rate was 88.3 for men and 146.8 for women; in Oklahoma

it was 54.3 for men and 98.1 for wornen.

‘Rates for Indian Territory not computed as population by marital status not available.

‘Not included in totals.

33
Table 9. Divorce rates: United States, each region, division, and State Or territory,selected

years 1870-1967

[Forpopulation bases, see appendix II.Rates per 1,000 population]

Area

United States2-----

Region

Northeast----------------

North Central------------

South--------------------

West---------------------

Division

New England--------------

Middle Atlantic----------

East North Central-------

West North Central-------

South Atlantic-----------

East South Central-------

West South Central-------

Mountain-----------------

Pacific------------------

New England

Maine--------------------

New Hampshire------------

Vermont------------------

Massachusetts------------

Rhode Island-------------

Connecticut--------------

Middle Atlantic

New York-----------------

New Jersey---------------

Pennsylvania-------------

East North Central

Ohio---------------------

Indiana------------------

Illinois-----------------

Michigan-----------------

Wisconsin----------------

West North Central

Minnesota----------------

Iowa---------------------

Missouri-----------------

North Dakota-------------

South Dakota-------------

Nebraska-----------------

Kansas-------------------

1967 1960 1950 1940 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Rate

2.6

=1.1

22.6

23.1

=4.1

1.6

=!:?

;:;

%’

35.1

3.7

3.1

2.5

::!

31.0

1.6

0.4

1.0

1.6

2.8

23.6

2.6

2.7

1.4

1.7

2.2

3.2

1.4

;::

3.0

2.2

20.9

22.1

22.8

23.4

1.2

%

1.9

%;

33.2

:.;

.

2.2

1.8

;::

1.1

1.0

0.4

:::

2.4

22.7

2.2

;::

1.2

1.7

::;

1.2

1.5

2.2

2.6

21.1

:2.4

=::;

=:::

22.5

2.2

‘2.5

22.7

24.5

=5.5

3.9

2.4

2.0

1.8

1.4

;::

20.8

::;

%;

2.6

2.5

1.4

;::

3.1

1.0

1.4

1.9

22.6

2.0

20.9

22.0

22.3

23.7

=;::

=2.0

=2.0

21.8

21.8

23.5

24.1

=3.5

1.8

1.5

1.2

1.1

0.9

1.0

20.8

20.8

21.0

22.5

22.5

21.6

2.3

1.1

1.1

1.9

23.2

20.8

1.2

;::

1.6

0.7

1.9

1.6

2.8

1.0

0.6

2.0

1.8

;:;

2.5

;::

:::

1.0

0.9

1.1

0.8

0.4

0.7

0.8

2.1

:::

i:;

1.1

1.7

($:;

1.1

1.2

2.2

11.1

0.5

1.4

11.1

2.1

%:

1.4

1.3

‘0.6

11.2

11.8

2.0

2.2

:::

;::

;:;

:::

0.6

1.4

2.0

1.4

k:;

0.9

1.4

1.7

0.8

0.9

1.3

1.5

0.7

=

;::

0.7

1.4

0.7

0.3

1.0

0.9

0.3

0.8

1.1

1.3

1.6

1.2

1.0

0.7

0.4

1.1

0.5

0.2

0.2

0.4

0.9

1.4

1.0

1.0

0.6

0.6

0.9

1.0

0.6

1.0

0.8

1.1

0.5

0.3

%;

31.2

0.5

;:?

0.7

:::

0.7

l::?

0.9

1.0

0.5

0.3

%;

0.2

:::

0.7

k:;

0.7

0.5

0.4

0.7

%;

0.6

0.8

0.8

0.4

s::;

30.3

‘0.8

0.6

%:

=0.5

30.1

=0.4

10.5

%;

:::

0.4

0.3

;::

0.2

0.1

0.2

90.5

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.4

~o.3

0.6

30.4

0.5

30.4

30.4

0.3 ——

“%:

10.2

0.6

0.5

0.2

30.5

30.3

=0.1

10.2

10.2

10.8

30.6

::;

0.5

::;

0.8

::;

0.2

~o.4

=$1

0.5

30.4

=0.2

=0.5

30.3

>Y

10.3

10.5

See footnotesat end of table.

34
Table 9. Divorce rates: United States, each region, division, and State or territory,selected

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware------------------

Maryland------------------

District of Columbia------

Virginia------------------

West Virginia-------------

North Carolina------------

South Carolina------------

Georgia-------------------

Florida-------------------

East South Central

Kentucky------------------

Tennessee-----------------

Alabama-------------------

Mississippi---------------

West South Central

Arkansas------------------

Louisiana-----------------

Oklahoma------------------

Texas---------------------

Mountain

Montana------------------k

Idaho---------------------

Wyomin

%

..-----------------

Colora o------------------

New Mexico----------------

Arizona-------------------

Utah----------------------

Nevada--------------------

Pacific

Washington----------------

Oregon--------------------

California----------------

Alaska--------------------

Hawaii--------------------

years U370-1967--Con.

or population bases, see amendm II. Kates per 1,000 populati

I

1967

1.7

R

::;

2.4

::$

4.7

2.4

3.2

3*4

2.8

4.1

*

::;

M

4.9

4.0

‘2.9

;.;

22:3

$:

.

:::

1,9

1.6

;;;

1.9

:::

1.3

2.3

3.9

‘2.8

2.s

5.3

2.4

13.4

11.5

4.6

3.6

33.0

2::

$:

3.7

2;::

3.3

3.2

3.1

3.5

2.0

2.0

2.2

2.1

=;:?

=::!

2.8

6.5

22.8

2.4

2.9

2.8

24.6

;:.;

*4:9

::2

%!

3.9

5.4

5::+

4.7

3.9

3.7

63.5

62.3

0.8

M

2.0

=1.1

;;;

5:9

=2.1

=1.9

1.6

1.5

=?::

24.2

24.3

23.0

3.2

=4.0

22.5

=2.3

3.8

22.7

47.1

3.7

3.1

4:;

%.2

3!_PRate

0.9

1.3

0.2

1.3

1.1

Cp.;

‘0.8

2.5

11.7

1.9

:::

X2.2

!:;

2.8

2.5

2.2

$:;

1.8

;::

28.7

2.8

::;

-..

---

1.0

:::

10.9

10.7

10.3

(4)

‘0.6

1.5

11.3

11.3

=1.0

11.1

$::

.

12.0

3.0

2.3

‘1.8

11.2

11.2

2.1

1.6

8.2

2.7

?::

---

---

1900

0.1

0.4

0.7

0.4

006

0.3

f~

●

30.7

0.8

0.9

0.7

0.7

1.4

$:2

1.4

1.8

1.5

=1.4

---

---

1890 I 1880

1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.2

%

:;

0:7

%!::

‘0.6

Soos

1.0

‘%?

0.9

1.6

%;

2.1

0.4

0.6

0.7

=1.2

11.2

0.9

1.2

..-

-..

2::

$:

.

lo.~

$“~

‘0:6

50.3

50.4

50.2

50.4

10.7

10.2

---

=0.5

S1.O

=1.0

1.0

=1.3

0.1

::;

91.0

11.0

11.1

0.8

---

--.

1870

*

30.1

0.3

10.1

90.2

10.1

*

10.1

10.4

30.3

30.2

Sol

%).1

=0.3

10.1

---

10.2

‘0.8

10.9

S1.4

11.2

*

*

30.9

10.8

30.6

‘0.8

005

---

-..

l~cluding nmreporting areas. in 1916 all rates computed excluding nonreportin areas,

footnote used only when the nonreportingareas comprisedmore than 2 percent of popufation.

~Estimated.

‘Incomplete.

4N0 divorces granted in South Carolina.

~ncluding Indian Territory,wherethe rate was 0.1 in 1890 and 1.1 in 1900; in Oklahoma it

0.0 in 1890 and 1.3 in 1900.

‘Not included in totals.

but

was

35
Table 10. Divorce rates for married women: United Statea, each region, division, and State or

territory, selected census yeara 1890-1960

[The population was enumerated as of July 1 in 1890, 1900, and 1930 and as of April 1 in 1940,1950, and 1960. Rates per 1,000 married women]

Area

United StatesI ----------------

Re=ion

Northeast ---------------------------

North Central -----------------------

South -------------------------------

West --------------------------------

Division

New England -------------------------

Middle Atlantic ---------------------

East North Central ------------------

West North Central ------------------

South Atlantic ----------------------

East South Central ------------------

West South Central ------------------

Mountain ----------------------------

Pacific -----------------------------

New Endand

Maine -------------------------------

New Hampshire -----------------------

Vermont -----------------------------

Massachusetts -----------------------

Rhode Island ------------------------

Connecticut -------------------------

Middle Atlantic

Nevi York ----------------------------

New Jersey-------------------------

Pennsylvania ------------------------

East North Central

Ohio --------------------------------

Indiana-----------------------------

Illinois ----------------------------

Michigan ----------------------------

Wisconsin ---------------------------

West North Central

Minnesota ---------------------------

Iowa---------------------------------

Missouri ----------------------------

North Dakota ------------------------

South Dakota ------------------------

Nebraska ----------------------------

Kansas------------------------------

1960 1950 1940 1930 1900 1890

Rate

9.2

13.6

18.5

111.7

114.4

5.2

1;:;

7.7

%:: ;

~13.7

18.1

13.1

9.6

H

4.7

::;

1.8

3.0

5.2

ll;::

8.9

:::

5.3

1:::

4.2

5.1

6.3

8.9

10.3

14.4

19.6

113.1

117.0

1;:;

110.0

18.7

llo.fj

111.2

118.2

22.9

15.0

9.9

8.0

u

4.7

5.4

13.1

4.3

4.7

10.7

111*5

10.2

9.9

5.7

5.7

8.2

11.9

4.2

6.0

ll;::

8.8

14.2

18.6

110.6

115.5

1:::

18.5

18.7

18.4

18.2

115.4

118.4 114.4

8.2

6.6

::;

4.2

4.5

3.6

13.3

14.5

110.4

110● 1

16.7

9.7

5.1

4.9

11::;

13.9

5.8

6.9

8.8

7.5

M

12:

4.9

n

8.1

$.:

11:9

14.1

12.3

8.6

::$

;.;

3:9

1.8

:::

1!::

9.1

9.8

4.0

5.5

1;:;

23.7

95.3

i:

3.0 .—

1.6

1;:;

17.4

2.7

1.1

3.9

I::?j

:::

1;:;

4.2

4.9

?::

3.8

3.4

0.8

0.9

1.5

3.5

$;

2:8

$:

4.6

2.9

:::

4.6

See footnotes at end of table.

36
Table 10. Divorce rates for married women: United States, each region, division, and State or

territory, selected census years 1890-1960-Con.

[The population was enumeratedas of JuIy 1 in 1890,1900, and 1930 and as of April 1 in 1940,1950, and 1960. Rates per”1,000 marriedwomen]

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware ------------------- ---------

Maryland ----------------------------

District of Columbia----------------

Virginia----------------------------

West Virginia-----------------------

North Carolina----------------------

South Carolina----------------------

Georgia-----------------------------

Florida---------------------------

East South Central

Kentucky----------------------------

Tennessee---------------------------

Alabama-----------------------------

Mississippi-------------------------

West South Central

Arkansas----------------------------

Louisiana---------------------------

Oklahoma----------------------------

Texas------------------------------

Mountain

~dn~-----------------------------

--------------------------- ----

Wyoming -----------------------------

Colorado ----------------------------

New Mexico --------------------------

Arizona -----------------------------

Utah--------------------------------

Nevada---------:--------------------

Pacific

~epngton --------------------------

------------------------------

California--------------------------

Alaska------------------------------

Hawaii------------------------------

~Estimated.

1960 1950 1940 1930 1900 1890

6.4

6.9

6.7

:::

5.7

2::

15.6

210.6

10.6

22.9

10.9

!;;.:

18:6

15.2

12.8

16.4

16.5

$;

10:9

121.0

13.5

13.1

13.0

17.0

.9.8

u

8.6

1;:;

6.7

14.9

11.5

24.9

111.6

1;:;

11.8

119.0

18.4 124.7

119.5

13.7

18.7

16.3

113● 3

17.5

23.3

12.9

220.5

18.6

14.9

14.3

618.4

612.4

Rate

3.3

M

9.3

113.7

1:$::

110.8

110.9

17.8

112.5

203.4

115.3

12.7

13.6

615.3

61402

4.0

5.9

0.8

6.9

5.4

2.6

Wl

11.1

R

6.2

6.7

10.7

12:;

13.5

12.2

10.9

13.9

9.9

1;:;

10.2

143.1

12.4

12.9

12.1

---

---

0.4

1.4

2.0

1.5

%:

(3)

I;:!

5.7

5;:;

5.3

7.6

1;::

---

---

~Incomplete.

3N0 divorces granted in South Carolina.

41ncluding Indian Territory, where the rate was 6.2; in Oklahoma it was 6.8.

5Rates for hdi~ Territory not computed as population by marital status not available.

6Not included in totals.

37
Table 11. Divorce rates: counties containing selected major cities, selected years 1870-1965

City

Atlanta ------------

Baltimore ----------

Boston-------------

Buffalo ------------

Chicago ------------

Cincinnati ---------

Cleveland ----------

Columbus -----------

Denver -------------

Des Moines ---------

Detroit------------

Indianapolis -------

Jersey City--------

Kansas City--------

Los Angeles --------

Louisville ---------

Memphis ------------

Milwaukee ----------

Minneapolis --------

Nashville ----------

Newark -------------

New Haven and

Waterbury ---------

New Orleans--------

New York -----------

Omaha--------------

Paterson -----------

Philadelphia -------

Pittsburgh ---------

Portland-----------

Providence---------

Richmond -----------

Rochester----------

Salt Lake City -----

Seattle------------

St. Joseph---------

St. Louis ----------

St. Paul-----------

San Francisco ------

Syracuse -----------

Toledo-------------

Washington ---------

Wilmington ---------

[Ratesper1,000population]

County and State

Fulton, Ga------------------

Baltimore,l Md--------------

Suffolk, Mass ---------------

Erie, N.Y-------------------

Cook, Ill-------------------

Hamilton, Ohio--------------

Cuyahoga, Ohio--------------

Franklin, Ohio--------------

Arapahoe, Colo --------------

Polk, Iowa------------------

Wayne, Mica -----------------

Marion, Ind-----------------

Hudson, N,J-----------------

Jackson, Me-----------------

Los Angeles, Calif ----------

Jefferson, Ky---------------

Shelbyj Term ----------------

Milwaukee, Wis--------------

Hennepin, Minn --------------

Davidson, Term --------------

Essex, N.J------------------

New Haven, Corm -------------

Orleans, La-----------------

N;~c~~: Kings, Queens,

and Bronx, N.Y2--

Douglas, ~ebr ---------------

Passaic, N.J----------------

Philadelphia, Pa------------

Allegheny, Pa---------------

Multnomah, Oreg-------------

Providence, R.I-------------

Henrico, Va3 ----------------

Monroe, N.Y-----------------

Salt Lake, Utah-------------

King, Wash ------------------

Buchanan, Mo----------------

StO Louis, Mo~--------------

Ramsey, Mien ----------------

San Francisco, Calif --------

Onondaga, N.Y---------------

Lucas, Ohio-----------------

District of Columbia--------

New Castle, Del-------------

1965 1960 1950 1930 1900 1890 1880 1870

Rate

3.1

2.3

M

2.6

2.0

2.6

;:$

2:5

3.7

;:;

4.3

3.2

2.5

;::

2.6

0.9

;::

0.4

2.6

0.8

1.4

1..6

3.7

::$

0.8

3.5

:::

2.9

2.1

3.7

0.7

3.3

1.7

1.5

3.1

2.1

1.4

0.6

2.2

2.3

2.2

3.6

3.5

3.3

2.3

3.2

::!/

3.5

2.9

2.4

;::

3.0

1.0

0.9

1.6

0.4

2.5

0.7

1.5

:::

1.1

3.3

0.7

3.0

3.5

3.6

2.7

:::

0.7

2.7

1.5

1.7

lIncludes independent Baltimore citY.

2Bronx County not included in 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900.

31ncludes Richmond city, made independent since 1890.

‘hncludes St. Louis city, made independent since 1870.

38

;.:

1:6

!:;

2.4

M

4.5

4.3

;::

---

2:;

3.9

2.7

;:;

3.6

---

1.3

2.9

0.7

3.4

---

1.5

---

4.7

1.2

2.9

:::

:::

3.5

:::

1.3

3.0

2.1

2.2

1.9

1.6

1.1

0.5

2.3

;:;

3.4

3.4

;.;

3:3

H

3.6

::;

2:2

3.4

0.8

0.9

0.7

0.4

2.5

1.1

0.9

;::

H

0.6

3.1

3.8

3.8

2.9

:::

!::

0.2

0.9

0.5

0.5

0.6

0.3

;::

1.1

1.1

1.9

2.5

1.1

2.3

0.2

2.5

2.2

1.2

;:;

1.2

:::

0.5

0.5

0.2

::;

0.4

0.3

1.1

::;

0.3

1.6

2.7

::;

0.7

---

0.3

U

0.2

0.5

0,3

0.4

0.3

0.8

0.6

0.7

0.9

2.6

;:?

;:;

1.4

1.7

1.0

6:;

0.9

::;

0.7

0.4

0.2

0.7

0.2

0.3

0.3

1.6

0.8

0.4

0.2

1.2

1.4

::;

0.5

---

0.3

::!

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.9

---

0.9

0.8

2.0

:::

::;

0.8

0.9

0.6

%;

0.7

%;

0.7

0.2

0.2

0.5

0.2

0.2

0.2

1.9

;:;

0.2

2.1

---

0.5

0.6

0.4

;::

0.7

0.3

0.1

0.2

0.2

%:

---

---

0.8

0.5

2.1

0.9

0.5

1.2

0.1

%;

0.5

0.4

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.2

:::

0.2

0.5

::;

0.1

1.3

::;

0.3

1.8

---

::;

0.3

0.6

::;

0.3

0.1
Table 12. Median duration of marriage prior to divorce: United States, 1867-1967

[Medians computed from data by single years of duration, except for 1948]

Year

:;:; ------- ------- ------- ------

-------------- ------ -------

1965---------------------------

1964---------------------------

1963---------------------------

1962---------------------------

:;:;---------------------------

---------------------------

1959---------------------------

1958---------------------------

1957---------------------------

1956---------------------------

1955---------------------------

1954---------------------------

1953---------------------------

1952---------------------------

1951---------------------------

1950---------------------------

1949---------------------------

1948---------------------------

1933-47------------------------

1932---------------------------

1931---------------------------

1930---------------------------

1929---------------------------

1928---------------------------

1927---------------------------

1926---------------------------

1925---------------------------

1924---------------------------

1923---------------------------

1922---------------------------

1907-21------------------------

1906---------------------------

1905---------------------------

1904---------------------------

1SDivorce-registration area.

All reporting States.

Median

duration

in years

17.1

17.1

17.2

17 4

17:5

17.3

17.1

+:

26.4

26.7

26 5

;6:4

26.4

6.1

26.1

26.0

25 8

26’3

26:4

---

7.1

::;

6.9

6.9

:::

6.6

6.6

Year

1903---------------------------

1902---------------------------

1901---------------------------

1900---------------------------

1899---------------------------

1898---------------------------

1897---------------------------

1896---------------------------

1895---------------------------

1894---------------------------

1893---------------------------

1892---------------------------

1891---------------------------

1890---------------------------

1889---------------------------

1888---------------------------

1887---------------------------

1886---------------------”------

1885---------------------------

1884---------------------------

1883---------------------------

1882-------------------.-------

1881---------------------------

1880---------------------------

1879---------------------------

1878---------------------------

1877---------------------------

1876---------------------------

1875---------------------------

1874---------------------------

1873---------------------------

1872---------------------------

1871---------------------------

1870---------------------------

1869---------------------------

1868----------r----------------

1867---------------------------

Median

duration

in years

8.2

8.2

8.3

8.3

8.2

%;

8.3

8.2

8.3

8.1

8.0

7.7

:::

7.8

7.9

7.7

7.7

7.6

7.5

H

;:;

6.7

6.9

R

7.4

39
Table 13. Median duration of marriage prior to divorce: United States and each State or territory, selected

years 1870-1967

[Medisns computed from data by singleyears of duration except ss noted]

Area

United States --------

Alabama --------------------

Alaska ---------------------

Arizona --------------------

Arkansas -------------------

California -----------------

Colorado -------------------

Connecticut ----------------

Delaware -------------------

District of Columbia -------

Florida --------------------

Georgia --------------------

Hawaii ---------------------

Idaho ----------------------

Illinois -------------------

Indiana --------------------

Iowa -----------------------

Kansas ---------------------

Kentucky -------------------

Louisiana ------------------

Maine ----------------------

Maryland -------------------

Massachusetts --------------

Michigan -------------------

Minnesota----------------+-

Mississippi ----------------

Missouri -------------------

Montana --------------------

Nebraska -----------------,--

Nevada ---------------------

New Hampahire --------------

New Jersey -----------------

New Mexico -----------------

New York -------------------

North Carolina -------------

North Dakota ---------------

Ohio -----------------------

Oklahoma -------------------

Oregon ---------------------

Pennsylvania ---------------

Rhode Island ---------------

South Carolina -------------

South Dakota ---------------

Temessee------------------

Texas ----------------------

Utah -----------------------

Vermont --------------------

Virginia -------------------

Washington -----------------

West Virginia --------------

Wisconsin ------------------

Wyoming--------------------

1967 1960 1950 1930 1922 1906 1900 1890 1880 1870

17.1

6.2

5.8

---

---

---

---

5,69.6

---

---

---

6.1

7.0

2,5?::

---

6.3

5.9

---

---

---

5::;

7.8

---

2,57.2

;:;

6.9

---

57.2

---

---

---

---

---

7.1

---

5.9

9.0

8.9

---

;::

---

5.6

59.9

8.8

-..

---

8.1

5.5

7.2

2::

---

.-7

---

---

59.8

---

---

57.0

6.3

6.3

4.8

---

---

5.7

5.8

---

---

56.9

9.0

---

---

---

2,57.9

---

5.1

6.3

---

---

---

---

---

---

57.3

---

---

5.9

9.2

---

---

6.3

6.3

---

4.7

---

8.3

---

---

8.2

5.4

15.8

---

---

---

---

---

---

69.5

---

---

6.0

---

---

4.2

---

---

4.5

---

---

---

6.0

---

---

66.6

---

6;;;

---

65.7

---

7.2

---

---

---

---

5.7

---

---

4.7

---

---

---

4.8

4.6

---

---

---

8.2

---

---

---

4.2

Median duration in years

6.9

26.3

---

26.1

4.9

28.4

27.5

29.5

29.4

29,.8

26.8

27.8

---

26”.3

27.1

26.2

26.3

26.3

26.6

27.2

28.4

29.2

210.0

27.5

28.3

26.0

26.0

26.2

27.6

29.1

29.2

29.9

25.8

29.3

28.2

28.0

27.3

25.1

26.5

28.5

29.4

2;9~

25:9

25.4

25.9

210.0

28.4

27.8

:;.;

25:9

6.6

5.7

---

::;

8.4

7.0

:::

;:J

6.4

---

6.6

6.9

:::

5.5

;.:

8:7

1%:

6.9

7.1

5.4

;.:

5:9

8.1

1::;

5.5

9.2

8.5

7.7

6.5

4.5

6.1

8.4

7.9

(9)

i::

4.6

5.9

9.0

::;

6.7

i::

7.9

7.4

---

6.4

5.7

10.1

1%;

310.8

311.3

::;

---

8.2

;:2

7.5

::;

;:;

1?:?

8.5

8.8

::;

6.8

7.7

9.8

1?:;

6.7

10.2

8.9

8.8

8.3

86.4

8.3

9.6

9.1

$9~

6:6

6.8

1:::

8.6

8.2

;:;

7.4

8.3

7.9

---

7.5

6.9

8.9

1:::

(4)

9.9

::;

---

%:

6.8

8.4

::;

8.6

9.7

10.6

11.1

9.4

9.2

7.6

;::

8.5

J4j

10:5

8.6

9.7

;:;

8.4

86.5

9.0

9.5

9.8

J9~

6:7

7.4

8.1

9.5

9.1

9.5

::;

7.5

8.2

8.3

---

36.8

6.4

8.3

1%:

(4)

39.(J

7.5

8.7

---

$44

6:5

7.6

7.6

6.9

7.8

9.5

1?::

9.2

8.8

8.2

7.2

;:2

39.()

9.7

31::;

1::!

311.5

8.5

J4~

9:1

8.9

J9~

6:6

7.8

1?:;

8.9

7.9

;:;

(4)

7.9

9,0

(4)

5.8

;.:

9:1

(4)

31(3.3

8.1

8.6

---

(4)

::2

7.5

7.2

3:::

8.3

1::;

8.5

9.2

7.5

6.7

$4;

.

37.7

1!:?5

(4)

3;:;

3279.3

8.1

---

8.3

8.7

8.6

s ~$11~

6:1

7.0

7.0

%:

39.3

38.6

8.2

(4)

6.9

5.5

---

3~4;

8.6

~4~

(i)

(4)

3~4~

.

---

$44

5:6

7.3

5.1

5.8

;4~

.

38.7

11.4

3;::

34,8

5.6

(4)

(4)

(ij

31:::

(4)

8.5

(4)

---

6.9

---

39.0

6,9

8.2

(4)

---

3;::

(4)

3::;

(4)

37.4

5.9

(4)

lDi~orCe-~egiStration area in 1967; all repOrting States in 1950.

2Computed from grouped data.

3ComPuted from 5O-1OO cases.

4Less than 50 cases.

S.Not in di~orce-regi~tration area. Computed from data in State publications.

6Computed by subtracting year of marriage from Year of decree.

?For Dakota ~erritory, which included the area of ~~rth Dakota and South Dakota.

81ncluding lndj,an ~erritory, where the median was G.1 in 1900 and 5.9 in 1906; in Oklahoma it Was 7.1 h

1900 and 7.6 in 1906.

~No divorces granted in South CarOlina.

40
Table _—- 14. Percent distributionof divorces bv duration of ❑arriage rmior to divorce: United

States, selec~ed years 1870-1967 - -

Duration of marriage 19671 1960 19502 1930 1922 1906 1900 1890 1880 1870

percent distribution

Total--------------- 1.00.O 100.0 100.0

H

10.2

10.0

9.4

R

4.4

4.4

1?:;

k:

3.2

3.0

100.0

4.4

7.8

8.3

8.5

7.9

:::

2::

4.7

15.8

8.3

5.2

2.8

2.2

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

5.8

1;:?

11.0

9.2

;::

4.6

12::

9.5

9.2

United

6.2

8.1

8.1

7.9

::2

::~

.

1%;

8.9

I

12.0

Less than 1 year ----------

1 year --------------------

2 years-------------------

-------------------

: g%-------------------

5 years-------------------

6 years-------------------

7 years-------------------

8 years-------------------

9 years-------------------

10-14 years---------------

15-19 years---------------

20-24 years---------------

25-29 years---------------

30 years or more ----------

::?

8.4

8.1

6.9

6.0

:::

.

1;::

10.0

::;

2.8

5.4

:::

8.6

;::

5.6

:::

17.0

10.1

6.0

3.4

2.9

5.0

:::

7.9

::;

6.3

6.1

12:;

10.2

5.8

3.3

2.9

5.0

6.3

8.1

8.3

7.6

7.2

%:

12:;

10.0

6.2

2.9

2.5

lDivorce-registration area (22 states).

21JIotalof 16 13SlYOrthg statesTable 15. Divorces and percent distribution by duration of marriage and of separation:

States, 1887-1906

[Entire20-yearperiod]

I I

Duration

!farriageMarriage ~eparato to

separation to

3ivorce divo~ce tion

{arriage Marriage separato to

separation to

iivorce tion divorce

I 1

Number Percent distribution

Total--------------------------- 945,625

46,639

61,481

73,052

73,913

68,770

62,666

56,417

50,654

44,397

40,730

36,369

31,971

28,260

25,077

22,979

20,025

17,901

16,018

14,253

13,864

95,148

45,041

945,625 )45,625

!733221

.44,131

.;;,;;;

49;556

32,842

22,024

15,681

10,764

8,295

6,399

4,777

3,607

2,804

2,234

1,713

1,350

1,085

846

681

2,935

.65,603

100.0

5.2

6.8

8.1

;.:

.

R

::$

4.5

$:

3:1

2.8

2.6

2.2

2.0

1.8

1.6

lk:

...

100.0

27.0

9.9

8.1

6.9

5.9

H

3.9

3.4

3.2

2.6

2.3

2.0

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.1

$:

...

100.0

year or less------------------------

years-------------------------------

years-------------------------------

years-------------------------------

years-------------------------------

years-------------------------------

years-------------------------------

years -------------------------------

years -------------------------------

35.0

18.5

14.8

10.2

~:;

2;o

1.4

;:;

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.2

:::

0.1

0.4

...

10”years------------------------------

11 years------------------------------

12 years------------------------------

13 years ------------------------------

14 years------------------------------

15 years ------------------------------

16 years------------------------------

17 years--------------------------A---

18 years------------------------------

19 years------------------------------

20 years------------------------------

21 ye+ws or more----------------------

Not stated----------------------------

;; ;:;

7:851

45,796

174,696

41
Table 16. Median and quartile duration of marriage and of separation: United States and each State and

Area and party

to whom granted

United States-----------

Total granted to husband------

Total granted to wife---------

Alabama-----------------------

Arizona-----------------------

Arkansas----------------------

California--------------------

Colorado----------------------

Connecticut-------------------

Delaware----------------------

District of Columbia----------

Florida-----------------------

~a;~a -----------------------

------------------------

Illinois----------------------

Indiana-----------------------

Indian Territory--------------

Iowa--------------------------

Kensas------------------------

Kentucky----------------------

Louisiana---------------------

Maine-------------------------

Maryland----------------------

Massachusetts-----------------

Michigan----------------------

Minnesota---------------------

Mississippi-------------------

Missouri----------------------

Montana-----------------------

Nebraska----------------------

Nevada------------------------

New Hampshire-----------------

New Jersey--------------------

New Mexico--------------------

New York----------------------

North Carolina----------------

North Dakota------------------

Ohio--------------------------

Oklahoma----------------------

Oregon------------------------

Pennsylvania------------------

Rhode Island------------------

South Carolina----------------

South Dakota------------------

Tennessee---------------------

Texas-------------------------

Utah--------------------------

Vermont-----------------------

Virginia----------------------

Washington--------------------

West Virginia-----------------

Wisconsin---------------------

Wyoming-----------------------

territory, 181

Marriage to divorce

I I

First Third

quar- Median quartile tile

4.6

4.6

4.6

:.;

.

::;

5.1

6.4

6.3

6.5

4.5

::?

4.5

3.6

:::

4.4

::?

5.4

5.8

7.4

;:!/

4.6

::;

4.3

4.5

5.7

::;

5.8

5.7

::;

4.1

;.;

5:6

(1)

4.8

:::

4.2

6.1

5.4

4:5

4.7

4.3

3.9

8.1

8.1

8.2

7.8

::$

8.9

1:::

10.4

10.3

:::

8.5

7.9

6.6

6.0

:::

6.9

8.0

9.3

9.6

11.4

9.1

;.;

.

7.1

::;

8.4

l!:;

9:8

9.5

9.5

8.4

7.4

8.7

9.5

9.6

(1)

9.0

6.7

u

10.0

:::

7.9

8.3

7.6

lNO divorces granted in South Carolina.

14.0

13.9

14.1

12.1

12.5

10.5

14.9

14.6

16.2

16.1

15.8

13.2

13.7

14.8

13.7

12.6

10.8

14.8

14.7

11.9

12.9

15.6

15.1

17.1

15.8

15.6

12.0

12.9

12.9

14.6

14.2

16.0

16.3

14.7

15.3

15.1

15.6

14.7

14.3

15.2

15.4

15.5

(1)

15.0

11.4

11.9

15.0

16.5

14.5

14.9

13.3

15.2

13.5

?-1906

Marriage to separation

Firs t Third

quar- Median quartile tile

Duration in years

1.9

1.7

1.9

;:;

;:2

;::

2.6

2.5

1.7

1.5

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.4

2.0

1.9

1.5

2.2

2.5

1.9

2.5

2.4

2.2

1.7

1.8

2.1

1.9

2.3

2.6

2.1

2,1

3.1

R

2.0

1.7

2.4

1.9

2.4

(1)

2.3

1.5

H

2.7

;::

1.6

M

4.7

4.5

4.9

i:!

3.4

5.9

5.4

5.3

5.9

5.7

4.2

3.7

5.6

4.9

4.4

3.3

5.3

5.0

3.6

4.6

5.7

4.9

5.8

:::

3.8

4.5

;:;

.

6.1

5.4

5.0

6.7

4.5

::;

4.6

M

5.7

(1)

R

3.6

5.7

:::

.?::

?:

10.1

1:::

;:;

1;::

10.8

10.7

10.2

10.5

8.9

1!::

10.4

10.1

1;::

11.3

;:;

11.4

9.9

11.0

12.3

11.8

7;8

1%;

11.5

10.8

12.0

10.7

10.2

12.1

1?::

11.1

10.9

11.6

10.5

10.9

(1)

12.6

7.8

1;:;

12.3

1:::

9.2

11.8

10.8

Separation to divorce

First Third

quar- Median quartile tile

1.5

1.7

1.3

2.4

1.4

1.6

1.8

;:;

2:9

1.8

2.8

1.6

1.4

0.9

1.7

1.1

1.7

1.6

1.4

1.9

2.3

4.5

1.5

N

1.3

1.3

1.5

1.4

u

1.4

1.4

2,8

1.6

1.4

1.7

H

2.1

(1)

i::

1.6

1.2

H

i:;

1.3

1.3

2.8

3.1

2.7

3.6

2.3

;:;

3.0

5.0

4.5

4.2

;::

2:7

N

2.3

2.6

2.6

2.6

3.8

4.2

5.7

2.6

2.7

3.4

2.2

2.2

2.6

2.2

3.7

4.6

;.;

.

4.3

2.6

2.7

2.6

2.4

3.7

3.5

(1)

2.5

2.7

3.2

2.0

:::

2.5

3.4

2.2

2.0

4.7

5.0

4.5

5.4

:::

4.2

4.6

;::

6.6

:.;

.

:::

u

3.7

3.9

4.4

4.9

5.5

6.4

:::

4.6

5.2

3.7

;:!

.

5.3

R

4.7

:::

4.2

3.9

3.9

5.8

6.0

(1)

2::

5.0

3.5

5.2

6,6

4.1

5.1

3.8

3.1

~

42
Table 17. Percent of divorced couples married in the State where divorce was granted: United

States, each region, division, and State or territory, selected years 1870-1965

[Anasterisk indicates thatpercentage wasnotcomputedwhenbasiswas50or1.ss]

Area

United States ---------------------

Region

Northeast -------------------------------

North Central ---------------------------

south -----------------------------------

West ------------------------------------

Division

New England -----------------------------

Middle Atlantic -------------------------

East North Central ----------------------

West North Central ----------------------

South Atlantic --------------------------

East South Central ----------------------

tiestSouth Central ----------------------

Mountain --------------------------------

Pacific ---------------------------------

New England

Maine -----------------------------------

New Hampshire---------------------------

Vermont ---------------------------------

Massachusetts ---------------------------

Rhode Island ----------------------------

Connecticut -----------------------------

Middle Atlantic

New York--------------------------------

New Jersey --------- ---------------------

Pennsylvania ----------------------------

East North Central

Ohio------------------------------------

Indiana ---------------------------------

Illinois --------------------------------

Michigan --------------------------------

Wisconsin -------------------------------

West North Central

Minnesota -------------------------------

Iowa------------------------------------

Missouri --------------------------------

North Dakota ----------------------------

South Dakota ----------------------------

Nebraska --------------------------------

Kansas ----------------------------------

1965 1960 1955 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

16009

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

73.8

---

---

---

65.4

59.4

---

---

69.5

62.1

---

59.8

63.2

---

57.4

63.0

57.7

57.5

67.6

61.2

61.1

45.5

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

62.4

---

---

---

---

59.3

---

61.0

---

---

58.1

60.2

57.2

255.5

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

66.2

---

---

---

61.1

---

---

---

---

---

---

57.2

---

---

57.0

---

50.0

59.1

---

---

Percent

71.0

71.0

69.7

81.9

55.2

70.5

71.2

71.4

66.9

76.7

84.6

82.4

46.3

59.8

73.3

66.4

72.1

70.4

62.5

79.4

79.5

66.3

66.9

72.8

82.6

68.8

68.6

66.7

62.3

70.2

69.5

45.7

57.7

65.0

67.8

77.0

75.1

75.5

86.3

58.8

73.6

76.1

79.8

68.7

84.6

89.3

84.7

55.7

60.8

79.8

76.0

69.9

74.4

52.4

64.4

84.4

67.4

71.2

83.7

90.3

71.0

81.5

80.8

59.3

76.6

75.6

39.0

38.0

57.2

68.4

75.9

80.6

73.5

88.8

48.4

77.7

82.8

80.5

63.2

86.5

91.9

86.9

40.3

55.3

84.5

76.2

73.5

75.7

69.6

*

84.8

72.9

83.3

83.3

89.2

73.1

81.1

80.0

57.0

73.9

74.2

14.8

34.5

41.1

59.2

79.2

82.9

76.6

90.5

55.9

79.9

86.0

80.6

66.9

86.2

94.3

87.5

41.8

64.3

85.5

74.4

79.8

78.8

75.8

*

85.8

68.1

88.9

85.2

84.3

76.6

79.4

76.2

62.4

66.6

82.9

12.3

41.5

55.2

78.6

84.5

75.4

88.6

50.7

82.7

86.1

79.0

63.8

84.0

93.2

81.9

39.5

54.8

89.2

72.5

86.5

80.2

80.9

*

86.0

70.8

88.8

82.9

77.7

80.2

76.4

72.4

55.0

57.7

76.4

51.:

See footnotes at end of table.

43
Table 17. Percent of divorced couples married in the State where divorce was granted: united

States, each region, division, and State or territory, selected years 1870-1965-Con.

[An asterisk indicates that percentage was not computed when basis was 50 or less]

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware --------------------------------

Maryland --------------------------------

District of Columbia --------------------

Virginia --------------------------------

West Virginia ---------------------------

North Carolina --------------------------

South Carolina --------------------------

Georgia ---------------------------------

Florida ---------------------------------

East South Central

Kentucky --------------------------------

Tennessee -------------------------------

Alabama ---------------------------------

Mississippi -----------------------------

West South Central

Arkansas --------------------------------

Louisiana -------------------------------

Oklahoma--------------------------------

Texas -----------------------------------

Mountain

Montana ---------------------------------

Idaho -----------------------------------

Wyoming ---------------------------------

Colorado --------------------------------

New Mexico ------------------------------

Arizona ---------------------------------

Utah------------------------------------

Nevada ----------------------------------

Pacific

Washington ------------------------------

Oregon ----------------------------------

California ------------------------------

Alaska ----------------------------------

Hawaii ----------------------------------

1965 1960 1955 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Percent

---

70.6

---

55.5

---

---

---

69.4

---

---

50.6

64.0

---

---

---

---

---

58.9

49.4

48.8

---

---

---

46.7

---

---

39.8

---

47.9

63.2

---

72.0

---

57.0

---

---

---

74.6

---

---

42.4

57.2

---

---

---

---

---

68.0

51.1

42.3

---

---

---

47.6

---

---

35.8

---

44.7

70.1

---

---

---

55.9

---

---

---

77.1

---

---

37.2

49.7

---

---

---

---

---

68.7

45.3

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

...

...

82.0

81.5

67.;

67.9

88.5

8$3;

71:6

76.2

87.1

85.7

93.1

85.7

90.2

60.6

89.4

45.7

41.2

38.2

52.6

46.2

50.5

71.9

14.4

53.4

53.9

66.2

.,.

...

83.;

57.1

86.3

77.8

94.8

J34

85:3

85.0

87.8

92.6

93.8

86.9

94.3

446.2

90.5

52.6

50.0

41.7

54.5

62.5

:%.;

“*

40.7

60.9

72.1

...

...

86.:

69.2

87.4

77.9

97.2

(3)

96.0

81.6

87.2

89.1

96.1

96.6

82.0

97.0

88.;

44.1

*

32.;

59.4

35.2

67.6

69.8

29.7

57.3

64.8

...

.,.

85.;

51.7

92.7

71.7

97.3

~~3$

84:7

90.2

94.8

96.1

97.4

86.9

95.7

...

86.5

*

*

32.;

*

72.;

41.0

42.9

64.2

66.4

...

...

89.;

93.;

54.4

*

96.;

80.8

91.3

95.9

93.3

91.1

82.2

*’

...

78.6

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

66.:

53.3

...

...

lDivorce-registration area (22 States).

2Total of 12 reporting states.

3NIYdivorces granted in South Carolina.

41ncluding Indian Territory, where the percentage was 55.8; in Oklahoma it was 37.0.
Table 18. Mean number of children per divorce with children reported: United States,

selected years 1867-1967

Year

1967-------------------------

1966-------------------------1

1965-------------------------

1964-------------------------

1963-------------------------

1962-------------------------

1961-------------------------

1960-------------------------

1959-------------------------

1958-------------------------

1957-------------------------

1956-------------------------

1955-------------------------

1954-------------------------

1953-------------------------

1952-------------------------

1951-------------------------

1950-------------------------

1933-49----------------------

1932-------------------------

1931-------------------------

1930-------------------------

1929-------------------------

1928-------------------------

1927-------------------------

1926-------------------------

1925-------------------------

1924-------------------------

1923-------------------------

1922-------------------------

1907-21----------------------

1906-------------------------

1905-------------------------

1904-------------------------

1903-------------------------

1902-------------------------

l~ivorce-registrationarea.

2

All reporting States.

Mean

number of

children

per divorce

with

children

12.18

12.19

12.16

;2.18

12.16

$. #

22:08

:2.00

;::;;

;1.93

#.92

21,88

21.86

21.8Z

gl.81

1.76

---

1.74

1.76

1.78

1.79

1.78

1.77

1.80

1.80

1.82

1.84

1.84

---

1.84

1,85

1.87

1.88

1.87

Year

1901------------------------

1900------------------------

1899------------------------

1898------------------------

1897------------------------

1896------------------------

1895------------------------

1894------------------------

1893------------------------

1892------------------------

1891------------------------

1890------------------------

1889------------------------

1888------------------------

1887------------------------

1886------------------------

1885------------------------

1884------------------------

1883------------------------

1882------------------------

1881------------------------

1880------------------------

1879------------------------

1878------------------------

1877------------------------

1876------------------------

1875------------------------

1874------------------------

1873------------------------

1872------------------------

1871------------------------

1870------------------------

1869------------------------

1868------------------------

1867------------------------

Mean

number of

children

per divorce

with

children

1.87

1.87

1.86

1.87

1.88

1.85

1.89

1.89

1.88

1.88

1.92

1.90

1.91

1.90

1.91

2.10

2.08

2.08

2.09

2.10

2.06

2.06

2.03

2.07

2.06

2.05

2.05

2.05

2.07

2.02

2.10

2:10

2.04

2.05

2.10

45
Table 19. Mean number of children per divorce with children reported:United States, each region,

division, and State or territory, selectedyears 1870-1967

Area

United States----

Region

Northeast--------------

No;;~ Central----------

------------------

West-------------------

Division

New England------------

Middle Atlantic--------

East North Central-----

West North Central-----

South Atlantic---------

East South Central-----

West South Central-----

Mountain---------------

Pacific----------------

New England

Maine------------------

New Hampshire----------

Vermont----------------

Massachusetts----------

Rhode Island-----------

Connecticut------------

Middle Atlantic

New York---------------

New Jersey-------------

Pennsylvania-----------

East North Central

Ohio-------------------

Indiana----------------

Illinois---------------

Michigan---------------

Wisconsin--------------

West North Central

Minnesota--------------

Iowa-------------------

Missouri---?-----------

North Dakota-----------

South Dakota-----------

Nebraska---------------

Kansas-----------------

1967 1960 1952 1930 1922 1900

12018

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

2.10

---

---

---

2.11

2.24

---

---

2.31

2.42

---

2.27

2.10

---

2.33

2.33

2.28

2.08

2.03

2.16

2.04

2.04

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

;2.16

$.;;

.

---

---

32.01

---

---

1.83

32.11

---

---

32.10

2.10

---

2.20

32.00

32.31

2.38

2.04

2.21

21.82

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

1.98

1.99

2.17

---

---

1.80

---

---

---

1.87

---

---

1.86

---

---

1.93

1.77

2.02

2.06

1.91

2.00

Mean number of children

1.78

1.70

1.81

1.79

1.73

1.79

1.65

1.79

1.86

1.84

1.81

1.75

1.84

1.68

1.84

1.98

1.94

1.75

1.79

1.76

1.60

1.60

1.70

1.79

1.78

1.67

1.91

1.93

1.96

1.90

1.69

2.05

2.28

1.91

1.85

1.84

1.76

1.87

1.89

1.78

1.75

1.76

1.87

1.89

1.90

1.85

1.89

1.85

1.75

1.85

1.85

1.80

,1.69

1.72

1.75

1.72

1.61

1.84

1.80

1.76

1.77

2.06

2.12

4;:;;

1.72

2.16

2.44

2.02

1.88

1.87

1.65

1.86

2.00

1.96

1.61

1.67

1.81

1.95

2.01

1.99

2.01

2.00

1.93

1.68

1.67

1.77

1.52

1.51

1.60

1.67

1.48

1.72

1.78

1.82

1.81

1.69

2.06

2.03

2.01

1.84

1.86

2.08

1.79

2.03

1890 1880 I 1870

1.90

1.70

1.92

2.01

1.95

1.67

1.72

1.89

1.98

1.97

2.03

2.00

1.91

1.99

1.70

1.63

1.77

1.65

1.82

1.61

1.81

1.56

1.70

1.96

1.84

:.;;

2:14

;.:;

1:83

1.95

2.00

2.14

2.08

2.06

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

2.00

4;:;;

1.53

1.49

1.60

1.91

2.06

1.85

2.26

1.94

1.98

2.18

2.45

2.13

2.20

1.85

42.24

2.17

2.05

2.10

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

2.17

1.73 ~1080

1.66

1.45

1.83

2.03

42.02

2.10

2.36

1.99

2.02

2.36

2.37

42.25

2.26

1.63

---

42.13

1.71

See footnotesat end of table.

46
divisio

Area

Table 19. Mean number of children per divorce with children reported: United States, each region,

and State or territory, selected years 1870-1967-Con.

I I 1 I I I I I

South Atlantic

Delaware---------------

Maryland-----.---------

District of Columbia---

Virginia---------------

West Virginia----------

North Carolina---------

South Carolina---------

Georgia----------------

Florida----------------

East South Central

Kentucky---------------

Tennessee--------------

Alabama----------------

Mississippi------------

West South Central

Arkansas---------------

Louisiana----=---------

;:paoma ---------------

------------------

Mountain

~hna ----------------

------------------

Wyoming----------------

Colorado---------------

New Mexico-------------

Ar;~na ----------------

-------------------

Nevada-----------------

Nevada----------------Pat ific

Washington-------------

Oregon-----------------

California-------------

Alaska-----------------

Hawaii-----------------

1967 1960 1952 1930

---

2.03

---

2.02

---

---

---

2.05

---

---

2.06

2.09

---

---

---

---

---

2.27

2.12

2.15

.--

---

---

2.40

---

---

2.21

---

2.17

2.39

---

1.98

---

1.85

---

---

---

3::;:

---

2.04

3;:;;

---

- --

---

-- -

2.24

2.11

2.04

---

---

---

2.12

---

---

2.00

---

2.17

2.58

---

---

-- -

1.75

---

---

---

1.74

1.67

---

1.90

1.74

1.92

---

--~

---

---

1.88

1.86

1.95

---

---

---

---

---

---

1.81

---

72.21

7.2,35

1922 I

1900 1890 1880 1870

Mean number of children

1.65

1.91

41.67

1.96

1.88

1.84

(5)

1.72

1.70

1.81

;.;;

1:89

1.75

1.68

1.85

1.68

1.92

1.95

1.98

1.85

1.84

1.84

1.99

1.63

1.76

1.73

1.65

---

---

1.56

1.90

1.81

1.93

2.02

1.90

(5)

1.81

1.90

1.76

1.84

1.99

2.00

1.97

2.06

1.97

1.78

1.93

2.02

1.93

1.79

1.88

1,76

1.87

1.70

1.80

1.79

1.72

---

---

42.22

1.92

1.64

2.01

2.25

2[$6

2.12

1.84

1.99

1.99

1.84

2.18

1.93

2.28

61.93

2.03

2.00

2.23

1.95

1.89

1.98

2.00

2.17

41.fjs

1.91

2.00

1.92

---

---

42.75

1.82

41.66

1.86

1.96

2.16

(5)

2.27

2.00

2.05

1.99

2.07

2.18

1.86

2.54

4$1.70

1.99

;.:;

42:og

4;:;:

%.68

4::;;

1.97

1.90

2.02

---

---

42.75

4~*;$

4;:::

42.58

(5)

2.20 42.05

2.28

2.12

2.62

2.12

1.90

42.22

---

1.95

42.79

42.73

42.20

2.00

42.33

42.14

4::;:

42.76

2.51

2.53

---

---

4

43.00

42.03

42.29

41.67

4Z.39

1.60

---

42 07

42;50

2.22

2.18

42,09

41./3fj

41.78

41.67

---

42.33

42.11

41.fj7

43.00

42.00

---

---

43.00

42,63

43.40 42.79

2.39

- --

- ---

lDivorce-registration area.

2A11 reporting ‘tatesSvot in divorce-registrationarea. computed from data in State publications.

~Less than 50 divorced couples with children.

~No divorces granted in South Carolina.

ticluding Indian Territory,where the mean was 1.70 in both 1890 and 1900; in Oklahoma it was

2.08 in 1900 and no divorces were granted in 1890.

7Not included in total.

47
Table 20. Divorces and percent distribution by legal grounds: United States, selected years

1867-1965

Legal grounds

All grounds -------

Adultery ----------------

Bigamy and fraud--------

Conviction of crime -----

Cruelty -----------------

Desertion or abandonmerit-------------------

Drunkenness -------------

~ncompatibility ---------

Indignities -------------

Neglect or nonsupport---

Separation or absence---

Other grounds -----------

Not stated --------------

[Forcodingrules,eeappendixII]

19651 19602 19503 1930 1916 1887-1906 1867-1886

164,942

2,244

822

803

66,666

22,028

509

1,166

24,812

28,782

5,655

6,541

4,914

94,074

1,561

(4)

(4)

54,130

24,943

(4)

711

(5)

4,986

540

2,270

4,933

100,997

1,717

466

522

57,258

23,748

2,520

10

9,852

2,140

213

1,082

1,469

Number

191,591

15,992

337

1,422

81,921

59>068

4,633

293

(4)

23,489

851

677

2>908

112,036

12,486

(4)

(4)

30,752

39,990

3,652

(4)

(5)

5,146

(6)

716,676

3,334

945,625

173,709

1,560

8,699

196,054

400,581

53,087

383

10,946

76,589

577

3,465

19,975

328,716

78,260

1,579

2,882

51,890

140,230

24,915

1,655

(5)

14,770

37

2,005

10,493

lTotal of 22 reporting States.

2Total of 18 reporting States.

3Total of 20 reporting States.

4~ncluded with “other groun+:”

5Decrees granted for indign~tles included with decrees granted for cruelty.

6Decrees granted for separation absence included with decrees granted for desertion or aban-

.

donqent. -

‘including 9,332 decrees granted for combinations of listed grounds —8.3 percent of the total.

48
Table 20. Divorces and percent distribution by legal grounds: United States, selected years

1867-1965—Con.

[For coding rules, see appendixII]

Legal grounds

All grounds -------

Adultery ----------------

Bigamy and fraud--------

Conviction of crime -----

Cruelty-----------------

Desertion or abandonmerit------------ -------

Drunkenness -------------

Incompatibility ---------

Indignities -------------

Neglect or nonsupport---

Separation or absence---

Other grounds-----------

Not stated--------------

19651 19602 19503 1930 1916 1887-1906 1867-1886

Percent distribution

100.0

1.4

0.5

0.5

41.7

13.8

0.3

0.7

15.5

18.0

3.5

4.1

...

100.0

1.8

(4)

(4)

60.7

28.0

(4)

0.8

(5)

5.6

0.6

2.5

...

100.0

1.7

0.5

0.5

57.5

23.9

2.5

0.0

9.9

2.2

0.2

1.1

...

100.0

8.5

0.2

0.8

43.4

31.3

2.5

1.6

(4)

12.4

0.5

0.4

...

100.0

11.5

(.I)

(4)

28.3

36.8

3.4

(4)

(s)

4.7

(0)

715.3

...

100.0

18.8

0.2

0.9

21.2

43.3

5.7

0.0

1.2

8.3

0.1

0.4

...

100.0

24.6

0.5

0.9

16.3

44.1

7.8

0.5

(5)

4.6

0.0

0.6

...

49
Table 21. Percent of divorces manted to wife: United States, each region, division. and State

or-territory,selected years 1870~1965 - “

Area

United States---

Region

Northeast-------------

NO& Central---------

-----------------

West------------------

Division

New England-----------

Middle Atlantic-------

East North Central----

West North Central----

South Atlantic--------

East South Central----

West South Central----

Mountain--------------

Pacific---------------

New England

Maine-----------------

New Hampshire---------

Vermont---------------

Massachusetts---------

Rhode Island----------

Connecticut-----------

Middle Atlantic

New York--------------

New Jersey------------

Pennsylvania----------

East North Central

Ohio------------------

Indiana---------------

Illinois--------------

Michigan--------------

Wisconsin-------------

West North Central

Minnesota-------------

Iowa------------------

Missouri---------------

North Dakota----------

South Dakota----------

Nebraska--------------

Kansas----------------

1965

1’273.0

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

80.3

---

---

---

368.2

374.3

---

---

375.1

79.7

---

878.5

377.3

---

4;;::

377.8

~

1960 1950 1939 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Percent

1’371.3

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

.--

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

65.1

---

---

---

---

78.6

---

77.0

---

---

4;;:;

378.5

2’372.2

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

-.-

---

74.9

75.6

71.2

77.9

---

76.1

---

---

---

---

---

---

75.1

---

---

70.3

74.9

73.9

73.6

76.8

---

2’372.7

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

72.2

79.8

---

78.1

---

---

75.0

378.9

---

72.3

71.3

74.9

68.3

74.6

74.2

69.8

74.6

75.4

66.4

68.4

69.1

70.9

76.4

73.8

72.1

73.6

74.4

79.7

72.2

74.6

67.0

67.9

74.7

73.7

76.8

70.8

80.0

76.1

77.7

73.7

74.0

74.3

77.1

75.8

68.9

69.0

72.5

62.0

72.8

72.3

;;.:

72:4

61.9

61.8

62.1

70.5

74.0

73.5

65.9

75.7

71.5

82.3

70.2

66.3

65.8

67.7

71.6

70.3

75.6

69.9

77.3

73.8

76.7

68.5

67.5

65.0

79.8

72.2

66.6

69.0

71.8

55.7

73.4

71.8

66.8

73,3

69.3

53.8

54.0

57.9

72.1

74.2

74.0

70.2

;:.;

77:3

69.1

66.2

62.9

68.0

73.2

73.8

73.2

73.4

72.7

69.9

76.5

64.4

60.4

58.9

72.2

71.4

65.3

68.0

70.5

53.0

69.1

69.1

67.2

72.2

67.7

50.1

51.9

54.6

69.5

70.0

70.8

62.0

72.2

66.4

77.1

71.3

66.1

68.9

67.6

73.0

71.9

72.0

72.2

72.0

71.4

73.2

63.5

61.5

62.5

68.9

68.2

65.0

68.3

68.5

50.7

75.1

72.1

63.6

69.5

66.0

47.6

51.0

52.4

71.4

77.3

72.5

65.6

;;.:

78:1

79.5

60.8

65.9

65.8

69.9

72.9

67.9

68.0

69.5

66.7

68.7

62.5

---

55.6

69.2

67.2

65.4

65.9

67.6

;;.;

.

68.9

62.3

69.0

62.8

53.6

55.6

50.7

73.0

75.6

68.3

66.3

70.1

67.8

79.7

65.5

60.1

61.8

65.0

72.7

67.4

68.4

67.9

68.4

63.9

62.3

60.1

---

---

(;)

70.9

See footnotesat end of tabl(

50
Table 21. Percent of divorces granted to wife: United States. each rezion. division.and State

Area “

South Atlantic

Delaware--------------

Maryland--------------

District of Cohmbia--

Virginia--------------

West Virginia---------

North Carolina--------

South Carolina--------

Georgia---------------

Florida---------------

East South Central

Kentucky--------------

Tennessee-------------

Alabama---------------

Mississippi-----------

West South Central

Arkansas--------------

Louisiana-------------

Oklahoma--------------

Texas-----------------

Mountain

Montana---------------

Idaho-----------------

Wyoming---------------

Colorado--------------

New Mexico------------

Arizona---------------

Utah------------------

Nevada----------------

Pacific

Washington------------

Oregon----------------

California------------

Alaska----------------

Hawaii----------------

or tei%itory, selected years 1870-19d5-Con. - ‘

–, —-—.-

1965 1960 1950 1939 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

..-

60.0

---

64.5

---

---

---

369.0

---

---

3;;:;

---

---

---

---

---

‘3

374.2

72.9

75.1

---

---

---

382.5

---

---

70.1

---

362.6

.366.6

---

67.0

---

66.2

---

---

---

365.9

---

---

3;::;

---

---

---

---

---

374.0

74.2

70.3

---

---

---

82.3

---

---

76.7

---

64.5

369.2

67.5

---

---

65.2

---

---

---

---

67.0

---

376.2

---

461.3

---

---

---

---

73.7

73.5

71.0

---

---

---

---

---

---

76.3

---

---

---

Percent

66.4

71.1

---

66.4

---

---

(6)

---

369.3

---

---

---

64.2

---

---

375.8

---

---

---

---

---

-m-

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

63.5

68.8

66.7

65.3

66.0

62.2

(6)

68.4

67.0

70.7

73.3

66.3

59.2

61.9

67.3

74.1

68.9

73.3

74.1

71.8

74.5

56.6

58.4

79.8

54.1

75.8

72.0

77.4

---

---

61.0

6~G3

58.9

65.8

50.4

(6)

68.1

61.7

68.0

69.3

53.7

50.7

55.7

59.2

67.8

62.9

7100

68.3

67.6

74.6

63.5

67.5

81.0

61.0

75.2

71.6

74.2

---

---

(5)

65.5

70.0

46.8

52.5

4~G8

59.2

49.0

57.8

67.8

,:;.:

.

51.7

51.8

?’62.8

60.3

75.3

66.7

63.9

72.7

63.4

62.0

85.0

(5)

71.8

67.9

78.0

---

---

(5)

59.1

75.0

43.8

48.2

40.5

(6)

51.5

48.3

58.7

62.1

39.0

43.1

52.1

44.0

(5,7)

58.1

69.4

(5)

(5)

67.6

59.7

70.9

79.6

72.7

62.2

71.5

72.7

---

---

(5)

50.0

78.8

47.0

;;.:

.

4~;6

38.9

54.5

61.0

35.0

41.7

51.3

56.9

---

52.4

(5)

(5)

(5)

65.2

(5)

7?:9

82.8

67.7

77.6

78.2

---

---

lDivorce-re istration area.

~All reportf ng States.

3Decrees granted to both husband and wife and to other persons excluded fr~ denominator.

?Percent of cases with wives as Plaintiffs.

(5)

64.3

(5)

37.1

53.8

(5)

(5)

60.2

33.3

59.2

61.6

50.9

25.9

42.5

(5)

---

54.0

(5)

(5)

(5)

(5)

(5)

(5)

80.5

(5)

(5)

71.9

76.8

---

---

~Less than 50 decrees.

.

~No divorces granted in South Carolina.

Including Indian Territory,where the 1900 percentage was 64.4; it was 61.5 in Oklahoma.

5.1
Table 22. Median and quartile duration of marriage prior to divorce, by party to whom

decree granted: United States selected years 1870-1965

Year and party to whom decree granted

19651

Husband ---------------- ................----

Wife ------------------ .*=------ --------- ---

19601

Husband -------- ---------------- ------------

Wife ---------------- -----------------------

1930

Husband ------------------------------------

Wife ---------------- -------- ---------------

1900

Husband ------------------------------------

Wife ---------------------------------------

1890

Husband ......------------ ..................

Wife ........................-------- -------

1880

Husband -------- -------- -------- -------- ----

Wife -......- .........................------

1870

Husband ------------------ ------------------

Wife -.....-. ...............................

~

First quartile Median Third quartile

Duration of marriage in years

3.2

3.2

3.1

3.3

3.6

3.5

4.8

4.7

4.7

4.7

4.5

4.6

3.9

4.2

7.8

7.4

7.7

7.3

7.0

6.9

8.3

8.3

8.2

8.2

7.7

8.0

6.5

7.1

15.+

14.5

14.1

13.7

13.1

12.9

14.1

13.9

13.8

13.8

12.4

12.9

12.2

12.7

1

Divorce-registration area.
Table 23. Median age of brides and grooms: United States, each region, division, and State, selected years 1940-67

Area

United States--

REGION

Northeast------------

North Central--------

south----------------

West-----------------

DIVISION

New England

Maine ----------------

New Hampshire--------

Vermont--------------

Massachusetts--------

Rhode Island---------

Connecticut----------

Middle Atlantic

New York-------------

New Jersey-----------

Pennsylvania---------

East North Central

Ohio-----------------

Indiana--------------

Illinois-------------

Michigan-------------

Wisconsin------------

West North Central

Minnesota------------

Iowa-----------------

Missouri-------------

North Dakota---------

South Dakota---------

Nebraska-------------

Kansas---------------

1967 I

1960 I1955 I

1950 I

1940

Bride Groom Bride Groom Bride Groom Bride Groom Bridel Grooml

Age in years

222.1

22.6

22.0

~21.6

~22.1

21.3

22.6

21.5

22.5

22.6

23.0

22.7

22.7

22.3

22.3

21.6

22.6

21.6

21.9

22.0

21.3

22.0

21.4

22.1

22.1

21.2

224.0

24.2

23.9

223.8

224.1

23.5

24.5

23.6

24.1

23.9

24.6

24.5

24.4

23.8

24.0

23.7

24.7

23.6

23.5

23.7

23.1

24.0

23.4

24.2

23.9

23.3

22.0

22.6

21.8

21.5

22.5

20.9

22.0

21.0

---

22.4

23.1

+22.1

22.8

22.4

22.5

---

---

21.6

21.3

---

21.0

---

---

20.8

20.9

20.3

24.4

24.6

24.1

24.2

24.9

23.8

24.4

24.0

---

24.7

25.9

‘24.5

25.0

24.3

24.3

---

---

24.1

23.8

---

23.5

---

---

23.9

23.6

23.5

321.3

---

---

---

---

21.3

23.1

21.9

---

---

23.7

‘22.4

---

---

22.6

---

---

22.0

---

---

21.4

522.6

---

21.3

---

21.1

324.4

---

---

---

---

24.0

25.8

24.3

---

---

26.5

424.7

A--

---

24.8

---

---

24.4

---

---

24.0

525.I

---

24.3

---

23.9

222.7

---

---

---

---

21.9

23.5

22.1

23.5

---

24.0

422.9

23.8

---

---

---

---

22.4

---

---

21.7

23.0

20.9

21.7

21.6

21.6

~25.iJ

---

---

---

---

24.4

26.1

24.6

25.7

---

26.8

’25.0 526.4

---

---

---

---

24.5

---

---

24.2

25.5

24.2

24.5

24.3

24.2

223.2

223.5

%2.3

223.0

22.6

23.3

22.9

24.1

23.9

23.9

23.9

23.8

23.4

---

---

---

22.8

23.1

---

22.7

---

---

22.7

22.9

---

226.1

226.4

225.3

226.1

25.3

25.9

25.7

26.9

26.5

26.7

27.2

26.9

25.8

---

---

---

25.5

26.1

---

25.1

---

---

25.8

25.3

---

See footnotesat end of table.

53
Table 23. Median age of brides and grooms: United States, each region, division, and State, se.

lected years 1940-67—Con.

Area

South Atlantic

Delaware -------------

Maryland -------------

District of ColumbiaVirginia -------------

West Virginia --------

North Carolina -------

South Carolina -------

Georgia --------------

Florida--------------

East South Central

Kentucky-------------

Tennessee------------

Alabama--------------

Mississippi----------

West South Central

Arkansas-------------

Louisiana------------

Oklahoma-------------

Texas----------------

Mountain

Montana--------------

Idaho----------------

Wyoming--------------

Colorado-------------

New Mexico -----------

Arizona--------------

Utah-----------------

Nevada---------------

Pacific

Washington-----------

Oregon---------------

California-----------

Alaska---------------

Hawaii---------------

22.0

22.2

23.2

22.1

21.0

20.7

20.7

22.3

23.0

21.1

21.4

20.4

21.4

---

21.3

---

---

21.5

22.1

22.9

---

---

---

21.0

---

---

21.6

22.2

23.0

22.8

23.7

24.4

25.3

24.1

23.5

22.8

23.2

24.2

24.9

23.4

23.6

23.3

23.8

---

23.5

---

---

23.7

24.3

24.8

---

---

---

22.9

---

---

23.6

24.2

25.8

24.5

1960 \ 1955 I

1950 I 1940

Bride Groom Bride Groom Bride Groom Bridel

Age in years

21.9

21.7

---

22.2

---

---

---

21.4

22.9

21.2

20.9

20.6

20.9

---

20.9

---

---

21.5

19.8

22.3

---

---

---

19.8

---

---

20.7

21.8

;;.:

.

24.2

24.5

---

24.3

---

---

---

24.0

25.6

23.9

23.7

23.9

24.0

---

23.8

---

---

24.8

23.6

24.8

---

---

---

23.0

---

---

23.8

24.3

26.6

29.6

22.5

22.5

---

22.4

---

---

---

21.0

23.8

---

21.7

20.9

20.5

62E;

---

---

21.8

20.6

22.4

---

---

---

20.0

---

---

21.4

---

723.4

723.5

24.7

25.1

---

24.6

---

---

---

24.2

27.0

---

24.1

24.0

24.1

---

624.2

,---

---

25.0

24.0

25.3

---

---

---

23.3

---

---

24.3

---

726.0

725.9

23.3

---

---

22.7

---

---

---

---

23.8

---

22.0

21.0

21.2

---

5,621.9

---

---

21.7

21.5

22.8

---

---

---

---

---

---

21.9

7:::;

---

lonly brides and grooms resident in State where married.

2A11 reporting States.

3Totalof28 States—24 States for which medians are showo and four other

arate information is not available: Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina,

4Excluding New York City.

25.8

---

---

24.7

---

---

---

---

26.9

---

24.4

24.3

24.6

---

5,624.7

---

---

25.5

24.6

25.2

---

---

---

---

---

---

24.6

25.7

727.g

---

23.1

22.9

24.3

22.6

22.5

---

---

---

23.7

---

---

21.4

21.6

21.4

---

20.9

---

---

21.2

---

---

---

---

21.9

---

---

22.8

23.4

---

---

:rooml

25.7

25.7

27.3

25.0

24.7

---

---

---

27.3

---

---

24.7

25.0

25.0

---

24.5

---

---

24.7

---

---

---

---

24.4

---

---

26.2

26.5

---

---

States for which sepand West Virginia.

51ncomplete

6Excluding New orleans.

7Not included in total.

54
Table 24. Median age of brides and grooms for all marriages, first marriages, and remarriages: 22 States, 1954-67

Year

1967-------------

1966-------------

1965-------------

1964-------------

1963-------------

1962-------------

1961-------------

1960-------------

1959-------------

1958-------------

1957-------------

1956-------------

1955-------------

1954-------------

I

Bride I Groom

11 I

All First Remarriages marriages marriages

22.0 20.7

21.9 20.4

21.8 20.5

21.7 20.2

21.7 20.2

21.6 19.9

21.3 19.8

21.5 19.9

21.6 19.9

21.6 20.0

21.8 20.2

21.9 20.3

22.0 20.5

22.1 20.6

All

I

First

marriages marriages

Age in years

34.7

35.1

35.2

35.1

34.8

34.9

35.4

35.9

35.1

35.2

35.2

34.8

34.4

34.5

24.0 22.9

24.0 22.8

24.0 22.9

23.9 22.8

23.9 22.9

24.0 22.9

23.9 22.9

24.1 23.0

24.2 23.1

24.2 23.1

24.3 23.3

24.4 23.3

24.5 23.4

24.6 23.5

Remarriages

39.0

39.3

39.5

39.3

39.3

39.2

39.5

40.1

39.4

39.7

39.6

39.3

39.0

39.4

NOTE: The following 22 States are included: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware,

Georgia,Hawaii,Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New H~~shire,

New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,and Wyoming. Before

1965, New York did not include New York City.

55
APPENDIX 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE STATISTICAL STUDIES

PUBLISHED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Carroll .D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor: A Report

on Man+age and Divovce in the United States, 1867

to 1886. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office,

1889.

U.S. Bureau of the Census: Marriag’eand Divovce, 1867-

1906, Part 1, SummaYy, Laws, Foreign Statistics,

Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909;

Part 2, General Tables, Washington, U.S. Government

Printing Office, 1908.

U.S. Bureau of the Census: Bulletin 96, Ma$%age and

Divorce 1887-1906, second edition. Washington. U.S.

Government Printing Office, 1914.

Office of the Secretary: “Trends in Marriages, Birth,

and Population, ” by A. Lunde, C. Ortmeyer, and E.

I-hJycIc, Health, Education, and WelfaTe Indicators.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington, D. C,, Mar, 1963.

Office of the Secretary: “Trends in Divorce and Family

Disruption,” by H. Carter and A. A. Plateris. Health,

Education, and Welfare Zndicato~s. Department of

Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington, D. C.,

Sept. 1963.

Hetzel, Alice M.: Marriage and divorce statistics and

the health department. HSMHA Health Rep. 86(7):

616-26, July 1971.

National Center for Health Statistics: Vikzl Statistics

Rates in the United States, 1940-1960, by R, D1 Grove

and A. M. Hetzel. Public Health Service. Washington

U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968.

National Center for Health Statistics: Mamti.ge and

DivoYce: Bibliography of Statistical Studies. Public

Health Service. Washington, D. C., 1969.

U.S. Bureau of the Census: Mamiage and Divovce, 1916.

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1919.

U.S. Bureau of the Census: Marnkz.qe and Divovce. Annual publications. 1922-1932. Washington. U.S. Governm ent Printing Office.

National Office of Vital Statistics: Vital Statistics of

the United States. Public Health Service. Washington.

U.S. Government Printing Office. Annual publications.

1946-1958.

National Center for Health Statistics: Vital Statistics

of the United Stutes. E>ublic Health Service. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office. Annual reports

beginning with 1959 data.

Bureau of the Census: VitalSfdisticsdpecid Reports.

U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, D.C.

vol. 9

No. 42. “Tentative Plans for’ the Collection of

Marriage and Divorce Statistics. ” May 9, 1940.

No. 60. “Marriage and Divorce Statistics, 1887-

1937.” June 29, 1940.

Vol. 12, No. 34. “Centralized Collection of Marriage

and Divorce Records and Their Uses,” by Bernard

M. Cohen. Aug. 28, 1941.

vol. 15

No. 8. “Preliminary Marriage Statistics for 26

States: 1939.” Dec. 30.1941.

No. 13. “Estimated Numbe~ of Marriages, by State:

United States, 1937 -1940.” Feb. 20, 1942.

No. 18. “Estimated Number of Divorces, by State:

United States, 1937 -1940.” Mar. 20, 1942.

No. 19. “Preliminary Marriage Statistics for 28

States: 1940.” Mar. 21, 1942.

vol. 17

No. 9. “Marriage Statistics. Resident Brides and

Grooms by Age: Collection Area, United States,

1940.” Mar. 5, 1943.

No. 13. “Marriage Statistics. Resident Brides and

Grooms by Previous Marital Status: Collection

Area, United States, 1940.” Mar. 1.8, 1943.

No. 14. “Marri~ge Statistics. Marriages Occurring

in Collection Area by Place of Residence of Brides

and Grooms, 1940.” Mar. 27, 1943.

No. 22. “Marriage Statistics. Marriages by Racial

Type and by Age of Resident Groom by Age of

Bride: Collection Area, 1940.” May 14, 1943.

No. 23. “Marriage Statistics. Resident Brides by

Age and Race: Collection Area, 1940.” May 15,

1943.

No. 25. “Divorce Statistics. Divorces by Cause,

Party to Whom Granted, and Plaintiff: Collection

Area, 1939. ” June 9, 1943.

No. 29. “A Review of Vital Statistics: United States,

1941.” Aug. 6, 1943.

National Office of Vital Statistics: Vital Statistics—

special Reports. Public Health Service. Washington, D.C.

Vol. 23, No. 9. “Marriage and Dhorce in the United

States, 1937 to 1945,” by Bruce L. Jetkinson and

Robert Osborn, Jr. Sept. 10, 1946.

56
Vol. 27, No. 10. “Marriage and Divorce Statistics:

United States, 1946.” Oct. 24, 1947.

Vol. 29, No. 4. “Provisional Marriage and Divorce

Statistics: United States, 1947.” Sept. 9, 1948.

Vol. 31, No. 16. “Provisional Marriage and Divorce

Statistics: United States, 1948.” Nov. 4, 1949.

Vol. 33, No. 12. “Seasonal Variations in Marriage

Licenses,” by Sarah Lewit. Apr. 4, 1952.

Vol. 34, Nos. 1-54. State Summaries, 1948. June I,

1950.

vol. 35

No. 3. “Marriages: United States, Each State and

County, 1948.” Jan. 31, 1950.

No. 9. “Marriage Statistics: Specified States, 1948.”

Apr. 21, 1950.

No. 12. “Divorce and Annulment Statistics: Specified

States, 1948.” Aug. 7, 1950.

Vol. 36

No. 2. “Summary of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: United States, 1949:” June 5, 1951.

No. 3. “Marriages: United States, Each State and

County, 1949.” June 7, 1951.

No. 6. “Statistics on Marriages: Specified States,

1949.” July 17, 1951.

No. 7. “Statistics on Divorces and Annulments:

Specified States, 1949.” Aug. 3, 1951.

No. 22. “United States Summary of Vital Statistics,

1949.” Sept. 10, 1952.

vol. 37

No. 1. “Marriages: United States, Each State and

County, 1950.” Sept. 15, 1952.

No. 2. “Divorces and Annulments: Unitpd States, by

State and County, 1950.” Oct. 2, 1952.

No. 3. “Summary of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: United States, 1950.” Oct. 29, 1952.

No. 4. ?!Statistics on Divorces and Annulments:

Specified States, 1950.” Dec. 9, 1952.

No. 5. “Statistics on Marriages: Specified States,

1950.” Dec. 16, 1952.

Vol. 38

No. 1. “Marriages: United States, Each State and

County, 1951. ” Oct. 20, 1953.

No, 2. “Divorces and Annulments: United States, by

State and County, 1951.” Dec. 4, 1953.

Noo 3, !r&.atistics on Divorces and Annulments:

Reporting Areas, 1951.” Mar. 19, 1954.

No. 7. “Summary of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: United States, 1951.” June 3, 1954.

vol. 39

No. 3. “Demographic Characteristics of Recently

Married Persons: United States, April 1953,” by

Hugh Carter and Sarah Lewit. Oct. 12, 1954.

No. 5. “Economic Characteristics of Recently

Married Persons: United States, April 1953,” by

Hugh Carter and Sarah Lewit. Aug. 17, 1955.

vol. 40

No. 3. “Summary of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: United States, 1952. ” Dec. 6, 1954.

No. 6. “Divorce and Annulment Statistics: Reporting

Areas, 1952.” Jan. 7, 1955.

No. 7. “Mar~iage Statistics: Reporting Areas,

1952,” Jan. 10, 1955.

Vol. 42

No. 1. “Marriages, and Divorces and Annulments:

United States, Each State and County, 1953.”

May 2, 1955.

No. 2. “Divorces and Annulments: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1953.” May 17,1955.

No. 3. “Marriages and Divorces: Each State and

Territory and Specified Possessions, 1953. ”

June 3, 1955.

No. 5. “Marriages: Detailed Statistics for Reporting

Areas, 1953.” July 14, 1955.

vol. 44

No. 4. “Marriages, and Divorces and Annulments:

United States, Each State and County, 1954.”

June 4, 1956.

No. 5. “hfarriages and Divorces: United States and

Each State, and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and

the Virgin Islands (U.S.), 1954.” June 6, 1956.

No. 6. “Marriages: Detailed Statistics for Reporting

Areas, 1954.” July 5, 1956.

No. 7. “Divorces and Annulments: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1954.” July 23,

1956.

vol. 45

No. 11. “National Vital Statistics Needs: A Report

of the United States National Committee on Vital

and Health Statistics.” July 17, 1957.

No. 12. “Socioeconomic Characteristics of Persons

Who Married Between January 1947 and June

1954: United States,” by Hugh Carter, Sarah

Lewit, and William F. Pratt. Sept. 9, 1957.

Vol. 46

No. 3. “Marriages, and Divorces and Annulments:

United States, Each State and County, 1955.”

Mar. 8, 1957.

No. 4. “Divorces and Annulments: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1955.” Apr. 9, 1957.

No. 7. “Marriages: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1955. ” h~ay 28, 1957.

No. 12. “Marriages and Divorces: United States and

Each State, and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and

the Virgin Islands (U.S.), 1955. ” July 23, 1957. ‘

No. 19. “Summary of Vital Statistics: United

States, 1955. ” Oct. 30, 1957.

vol. 47

No. 7. “Selected Characteristics of Marriages:

District of Columbia, 1956,” by Sarah Lewit.

Sept. 19, 1960.

No. 10. “Selected Characteristics of Marriages:

Georgia, 1954,” by Sarah Lewit. Oct. 2, 1961.

No. 13. “Improving National Divorce Statistics:

A Report of the Subcommittee on National

Divorce Statistics of the U.S. National Committee

on Vital and Health Statistics. ” June 25, 1962.

57
Vol. 48

No. 1. “Marriages, and Divorces and Annulments,

by Counties: Continental United States, Alaska,

Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands (U.S.), 1956, ”

Feb. 28, 1958.

No. 2. “Divorces and Annulments: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1956. ” Mar. 25,

1958.

No. 3. “Marriages and Divorces: United States and

Each State, and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and

the Virgin Islands (U.S.), 1956. ” Apr. 9, 1958.

No. 16. “Marriages: Detailed Statistics for Report -

ing Areas, 1956.” Oct. 27, 1958.

vol. 50

No. 6. “Marriages, and Divorces and Annulments, by

Counties: Continental United States, Alaska,

Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (U.S.),

1957. ” June 4, 1959.

No. 7. “Marriages and Divorces: United States and

Each State, and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and

the Virgin Islands (U.S.), 1957. ” June 5, 1959.

No. 11. “Divorces and Annulments: Detailed Statistics for Reporting Areas, 1957.” Aug. 19,1959.

No. 12. “Marriages: Detailed Statistics for the

Marriage-Registration Area, 1957. ” Aug. 26,

1959.

No. 18. “Summary of Marriage and Divorce Statistics: United States, 1957.” Nov. 25, 1959.

U.S. Bureau of the Census: Po@dation. Series PM-1,

PM-2, PM-3, and PM-4. Washington. U.S. Government

Printing Office, July 1944-Dec. 1946.

National Office of Vital Statistics: Qua~t~lY Mawia,ge

Report for States. Public Health Service. Washington,

D.C. Aug. 1946-Apr. 1949. (Provisional data.)

National Office of Vital Statistics: Monthly Mawiage

Report. Public Health Service. Washington, D,C.

Feb. 1947-Apr. 1951. (Provisional data.)

National Office of Vital Statistics: Monthly Vital Statistics Bulletin. Public Health Service. Washington,

D.C. Mar. 1949-Sept. 1952.

National Office of Vital Statistics: Monthly Vital Stuti+tics Report. Vol. 1, No. 1, to Vol. 10, No. 5.

Washington, D.C. Public Health Service, Apr. 4,

1952, to July 18, 1961.

National Vital Statistics Division: Monthly Vital Statistics Report. Vol. 10, No. 6, to Vol. 12, No. 12.

Washington, D.C. Public Health Service, Sept. 18,

1961, to Feb. 24, 1964.

National Center for Health Statistics: Monthly Vital

Statistics Report. Vol. 12, No. 13, to Vol. 22, No. 9.

Washington, D.C. Public Health Service, July 31,

1964, to Nov. 26, 1973. (Ongoing)

Na;ional Center for Health Statistics: Monthly Vital

Statistics Report. Washington, D.C. Public Health

Service.

Supplements to:

Vol. 13, No. 11. “Final Marriage and Divorce

Statistics, 1962.” Jan. 29, 1965.

vol. 15

No. 3. “Final Marriage Statistics, 1963.” May

31, 1966.

No. 5. “Divorce Statistics, 1963.” Aug. 10,

1966.

Vol. 16, No. 70 “Marriage and Divorce Statistics,

1964.” Sept. 27, 1967.

vol. 17

No. 1 “Divorce Statistics, 1965.” Apr. 16, 1968.

No. 4. “Marriage Statistics, 1965.” June 24,1968.

No. 10. “Divorce Statistics, 1966.” Jan. 6, 1969.

No. 11. “Marriage Statistics, 1966.” Feb. 20,

1969.

Vol. 18

No. 1. “Divorce Statistics, 1967.” Apr. 16, 1969.

No. S. “Marriage Statistics, 1967.” Aug. 14,1969.

vol. 19

No. 10. “Divorce Statistics, 1968.” Jan. 26,1971.

No 110 !’Marriage Statistics, 1968. ” Feb. 11,

.

1971.

vol. 20

No. 4. “Marriage Statistics, 1969.” July 22,1971.

No. 4(2). “Divorce Statistics, 1969.” July 22,1971.

National Center for Health Statistics: Vital and Health

Statistics, Series 21, Public Health Service. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office.

No. 2. “Demographic Characteristics of Persons

Married Between January 1955 and June 1958,

United States.” Apr. 1965.

No. 7. “Divorce Statistics Analysis, United States,

1962.” Dec. 1965.

No. 10, “Marriage Statistics Analysis, United States,

1962.” Jan. 1967.

No. 13. “Divorce Statistics Analysis, United States,

1963.” Oct. 1967.

No. 16. “Marriage Statistics Analysis, United States,

1963.” Sept. 1968.

No. 17. “Divorce Statistics Analysis, Unitecl States,

1964 and 1965.” Oct. 1969.

No. 18. “Children of Divorced Couples, United States,

Selected Years.” Feb. 1970.

No. 20. ‘!Increases in Divorces, United States, 1967.”

Dec. 1970.

No. 21. “Marriages: Trends and Characteristics,

United States.’r (HSM) 72-1007. Sept. 1971.

No, 22. “Divorces: Analysis of Changes, United States,

1969,” (HSM) 73-1900. Apr. 1973.

No. 23. “Teenagers: Marriages, Divorces, Parenthood, and Mortality.” (HRA) 74-1901. Aug. 1973.

000

58
APPENDIX II

SOURCES AND METHODS

Sources

All data shown in the present report are based on

frequencies previously published in marriage and divorce reports of the Federal Government, more spe -

cifically, in the series Ma?%age and Divorce for 1867-

86, 1887-1906, 1916, and 1922 through 1932, in the

series Vitil Statistics-Speckzl R@oYts, Volume 17,

Number 23, and Volume 23, Number 9, and in the annual report Vital Statistics of the United States, Volumes I and II for 1950, Volume I for 1952 and 1955,

and Volume 111for 1960, 1965, and 1967. Some additional

information for 1960 and 1967 on duration of marriage

prior to divorce and number of children involved was

taken from. publications of the following States: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Miss is -

sippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio,

and Vermont. This information is shown only in tables

13 and 19, where it is footnoted.

National Totals and Rates

All annual marriage and divorce totals for the

United States are rounded to the nearest 1,000 in order

to avoid a spurious impression of absolute accuracy.

In the sources totals for some years are rounded, for

other years not. National totals and rates for 1950 and

subsequent years were taken from Vital Statistics of the

United States. Many totals and rates for the years preceding 1950 were revised in 1950; these are published

in Vitul Statistics of the United States, 1950, Volume I,

tables 5.01 and 5.08. The revised figures have been

used in all publications for later years. As the method

used for the 1950 revision is unknown, the national

totals may differ slightly from the sum of regional totals prepared for the present report.

Area Totals

Reporting of marriages and divorces was incomplete in many States, particularly for marriages during

the 1867-86 period. Completeness of reporting was estimated on the assumption that the rate in nonreporting

counties of a region, division, State, or territory was

identical with that for the reporting counties combined.

Hence the completeness of reporting was assumed to be

equal to the proportion of the State population living in

the reporting counties. This proportion could be computed on~y for years for which population of counties

were available, namely for census years; 1920 figures

were used for the computation of the completeness for

1916, and 1960 data for 1967. County totals of marriages .

and divorces were not published for 1940; for that year

and for 1950 estimates for nonreporting areas had been

prepared when data were originally published. Percentages of completeness were computed for the years 1967,

1960, 1930, 1916, 1900, 1890, 1880, and 1870. A summary of this information is given in tables I and H.

Divisional and State totals were estimated when the

nonreporting counties combined comprised less than 90

but more than 50 percent of the population, and regional

totals represent the sum of the appropriate divisional

totals. State totals, though not published, were used to

compute marriage rates per 1,000 unmarried popula -

tion and divorce rates per 1,000 married population, as

described below. Regional and divisional totals for

marriage and divorce are shown in tables 5 and 6,

respectively. Estimates were prepared on the assumption that the crude rate for the nonreporting counties

was identical with that for the reporting counties. Hence

in order to estimate a divisional or State total the crude

rate for the reporting counties combined was applied

to the total population of an area.

Area Rates

Two type~ of rates are shown: crude marriage and

divorce rates (computed per 1,000 total population) and

rates per 1,000 persona subject to the “risk” of marriage or divorce, the unmarried and the married, respectively. The unmarried represent the total of single,

widowed, and divorced men or women 15 years old and

older. Population bases for computing the rates were

enumerated or estimated by the Bureau of the Census

as of April 1 for 1940, 1950, and 1960 and as of July 1

for other years. The Armed Forces stationed outside

the United States during the two World Wars (1917-19

and 1941-46) were excluded from the population used to

compute marriage rates but included with that for divorce rates. Armed Forces abroad were excluded for

all other years. Population by marital status waa tabulated for census years beginning with 1890. Originally,

the term “conjugal conditions” was used to denote marital status. As information on marital status was collected for the first time in the 1890 census, rates based

on the unmarried or married population could not be

computed for 1870 and 1880.

59
Table 1. Percent completeness of reporting marriage and divorce totals : United States and each

region, selected years 1870-1967

[Percentages represent the proportion of the population living in reporting counties. As databycountyarenotavailable for1940,completeness for

thatyearcould not be computed]

1967 1960 1950 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

.

Area

Marriage

United States ----- 100.0 96.7 96.9 95.3 64.7 49.9

Region

Northeast ---------------

North Central -----------

south -------------------

West --------------------

United States -----

Region

Northeast ---------------

North Central -----------

south -------------------

West --------------------

99.9 I 99.9 98.7

I

100.0 100.0 100.0 96.2 31.0 26.2

100.0 99.5 99.8 99.6 ;;.;

100.0

75.2

90.7 92.0 91.7 45.6

100,0 98.7 91.7 88.9 72:9 66.0

100.0 100.0 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0

100.0 99.7 95.7

99.6 100.0 100.0

Divorce

98.8 ] 99.3 -k96.9 99.7 98.3 I 99.3

II

98.8 98.4 96.5

100.0 100.0 100.0

99.7 97.7 94.4

;!.; 97.7 95.2

. 99.8 98.2

by number of States re -

I

100.0 100.0 99.1 99.9 99.7 100.0

99.9 100.0 96.9 99.7 99.9 99.8

97.0 97.8 93.7 99.4 95.3 99.5

98.4 99.7 99.9 99.7 99.1 91.5

I I I I I

Table II. Percent completeness of reporting marriage and divorce totals

porting: selected years 1870-1967

[Percentages represent the proportion of the State pOpuhtion living inreporting counties. ke=titiout ccmnty Organizatiqth eDi strict of

Columbia, smd, for 1890 and 1900, Indian Territory, are excluded. As dstaby county are not avsilable for 1940, completeness for that

year could not be computed]

Percent completeness 1967 1960 1950 1930 1916 1900 1890 1880 1870

Number of States reporting marriages

All areas --------- 50 48 I 48 I 48 I 48 I 48,

46

4

46

10

!

5

2

2

2

;

3

3

7

46

23

22

:

46

:

4

4

3

4

;

2

2

1:

46 —. —.

20

21

4

1

;; 25

19

1 1

1 1

48 28

17

3

100.0 -------------------

90.0 -99.9 ---------------

80.0 -S9.9---------------

70.0 -79.9 ---------------

60.0 -69.9 ---------------

50.0 -59.9 ---------------

40.0 -49.9 ---------------

30.0 -39.9 ---------------

20.0 -29.9 ---------------

10.0 -19.9 ---------------

0.1-9 .9-----------------

No report s-------------- i

Number of States reporting divorces

48

27

20

i

48

25

21

1

i

48

32

14

i

i

48

27

18

1

1

i

All areas --------- 50

[

48

37

7

:

2

1

.

100.0 -------------------

90.0 -99.9 ---------------

80.0 -89.9 ---------------

70.0 -79.9 ---------------

60.0 -69.9 ---------------

50.0 -59.9 ---------------

40.0 -49.9 ---------------

30.0 -39.9 ---------------

20.0 -29.9 ---------------

10.0 -19.9 ---------------

0.1-9 .9-----------------

No reports --------------

No divorces granted -----

60
In view of the incompleteness in reporting of marriage and divorce totals, certain rules were adopted in

dealing with rates for totals that were less than 100

percent complete:

When the nonreporting counties combined comprised 2 percent or less of the population of the

area for which a rate was being computed (State

or territory, division, or region), no adjustments

were made and the rate was not footnoted.

When the nonreporting counties comprised from 2.1

to 10.0 percent of the area population, no adjustments were made but the computed rate was footnoted “incomplete.”

When the nonreporting counties comprised from

10.1 to 50.0 percent of the area’s total population,

the population of the reporting areas was used to

compute the rate, which was footnoted “excluding

nonreporting areas. ” As county data by marital

status were not availabIe, nonreporting areas could

not be excluded from the married and the unmarried population and estimated State totals were used.

Rates computed by using estimated totals of events

were footnoted “estimated.”

Many State totals for 1940 and 1950 and some totals

for other years include estimates for nonreporting

areas. Rates based on such totals were footnoted

“estimated.”

When the nonreporting areas combined comprised

from 50.1 to 89.9 of the area population, rates were

not computed and an asterisk was used to denote

that data do not meet the standards of accuracy and

precision.

When the nonreporting areas comprised 90 percent

or more of the population or a State did not report

at all, three dashes indicate data were not available. No divorces were granted in South Carolina

in the years 1879-1948; hence there could be no

divorce rates for that State and three dots were

used to denote this. It must be pointed out that the

same rules were used for both States and divisions.

While a given group of nonreporting counties may

represent a high proportion of the population of

their State, it may represent only a small proportion of the division, and the footnotes vary accordingly. In cases where an estimated divisional total

was included in a regional total, the latter was also

footnoted “estimated.”

Rates for 1916 used in this report were taken from

the 1922 publication. They differ from those in the 1916

publication, as population estimates based on the 1920

census were used. These estimates are not shown,

and estimates for computing regional rates (not included in the 1916 or 1922 reports) were obtained by

dividing the number of events in divisions by their

rates and adding the appropriate quotients.

Changing Areas

Several changes occurred in the political organization of the United States during the 1867-1967 period,

and these changes are reflected in the statistics.

Prior to 1889 the present States of North Dakota

and South Dakota constituted the Dakota Territory.

Oklahoma was organized from a part of Indian

Territory, and later the remainder of that Indian

Territory was annexed to Oklahoma. For the years

1890-1906 the sources give separate statistics for

the two areas. In this publication tables showing

time trends give data for the two areas combined,

with separate figures for each of these two areas

given in footnotes.

Data for Alaska and Hawaii have been included with

the United States statistics since 1959 and 1960,

respectively. Data for earlier years, when available, were not included in the national, regional, or

divisional totals.

Selected Years

State data are shown in the tables for only a few

selected years. These include census years for which

marriageand divorce data are available (1870, 1880, 1890,

1900, 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1960), 1916, when a special

data collection was conducted, and 1967, the last year of

the period. Not all data are available for each of the

selected years (e.g., information on duration of marriage and number of children was lacking for 1916 and

legal variables were not tabulated for 1967). In such

cases, da~a for another year were used whenever possible. In some cases 1906 or 1922 data were used instead of those for 1916, 1952 for 1950, and 1965 instead

of 1967.

Legal Grounds

Divorce decrees that were granted on two or more

legal grounds were assigned to the ground considered

the most specific. Some of the grounds were combined

as in table 20. Legal grounds or combinations of grounds

listed by order of preference in assigning them are

(1) adultery, (2) bigamy or fraud, (3) conviction of crime,

(4) drunkenness, (5) desertion or abandonment, (6) neglect to provide or nonsupport, (7) cruelty, (8) indignities, (9) incompatibility, (10) separation or absence,

and (11 ) all other grounds.

61

* U. S. GOVESNMSNT P~TUiG OFFICE :1974 54S-880/38
VITAL AND HEALTH STATISTICS PUBLICATION SERIES

Originally Public Hmlth Service Publication No. 1000

Series 1. Pvo~ams and collection pyoceduves. — Reports which describe the general programs of the National

Center for Health Statistics and its offices and divisions, data collection methods used, definitions,

and other material necessary for under standing the data.

Series 2. Dab evaluation and methods veseavch. — Studies of new statistical methodology including: ex~eri -

mental tests of new survey methods, studies of vital statistics collection methods, new analytical

techniques, objective evaluations of reliability of collected data, contributions to statistical theory.

SeVies 3. Analytical studies. —Reports presenting analytical or interpretive studies based on vital and health

statistics, carrying the analysis further than the expository types of reports in the other series.

Series 4. Documents and committee ~epoyts. — Final reports of major committees concerned with vital and

health statistics, and documents such as recommended model vital registration laws and revised

birth and death certificates.

Series 10. Data jkom the Health Interview Smwev.- Statistics on illness, accidental injuries, disability, use

of hospital, medical, dental, and other services, and other health-related topics, based on data

collected in a continuing national household interview survey.

Series 11. Dab from the Health Examination Suney. —Data from direct examination, testing, and measurement of national samples of the civilian, noninstitutional population provide the basis for two types

of reports: (1) estimates of the medically defined prevalence of specific diseases in the United

States and the distributions of the population with respect to physical, physiological, and psycho.

logical characteristics; and (2) analysis of relationships among the various measurements without

reference to an explicit finite universe of persons.

Series 12. Data from the Institutional Population Suvveys — Statistics relating to the health characteristics of

persons in institutions, and their medical, nursing, and personal care received, based on nationaI

samples of establishments providing these services and samples of the residents or patients.

Series 13. Data from the Hospital Dischmge Survey. —Statistics relating to discharged patients in short-stay

hospitals, based on a sample of patient records in a national sample of hospitals.

Series 14. Data on health vesouvces: manpower and facilities. —Statistics on the numbers, geographic distribution, and characteristics of health resources including physicians, dentists, nurses, other health

occupations, hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient facilities.

Series 20. Data on mortality. —Various statistics on mortality other than as included in regular annual or

montnly reports—special analyses by cause of death, age, and other demographic variables, also

geographic and time series analyses.

Sm”es 21. Data on na.kzlity, marriage, and divwce. —Various statistics on natality, marriage, and divorce

other than as included in regular annual or monthly reports-special analyses by demographic

variables, also geographic and time series analyses, studies of fertility.

Series 22. Data JYom the National Natdity and Movtdity Sr.wveys.— Statistics on characteristics of births

and deaths not available from the vital records, based on sample surveys stemming tiom these

records, including such topics as mortality by socioeconomic class, hospital experience in the

last year of life, medical care during pregnancy, health insurance coverage, etc.

For a list of titles of reports published in these series, write to: Office of Information

Nat ional Center for Health Statistics

Public Health Service, HRA

Rockville, Md. 20852
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

Heslth Resources Administration

5600 Fishers Lane

Rockvillc, Marylsnd 20852

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Pcnalty for Private Use $300

PoSTAGE AND FEEs PAID

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEW

m

m

HEW 390

\

J

THIRD CLASS

BLK. RT.

I .,, ,,

.

,,, .;’

;, ,; ,?

./

(

,!

.. :,: ,. ‘ “ . . .

.’, ,’

t

I

.,

,... I

,,

i“”’”

..