How to Measure Divorce Rates
- 1). Divide the total number of divorces that occur in a given time period by the number of marriages that have occurred in the same period. This is a simple calculation that is easy to perform, but it has little statistical merit. This method takes two unrelated events and attempts to make them appear relevant.
In 2004, there were 1,126,358 divorces and 2,311,998 marriages. Using this method results in a divorce rate for that year of 48.72 percent. - 2). Divide the number of divorces in a time period by the entire population and multiply the result by 1000. This method is called the "Crude Divorce Rate." In 2004 the population of the United States was 296 million people. There were 1,126,358 divorces that year, which would make the divorce rate 3.8 per thousand using this method. One major problem with this number is that the total population, which is used as the divisor, will include people who are not yet married, and others who will never get married.
- 3). Divide the number of divorces in a given time period by the total number of marriages at the end of the time period and multiply by 1000. This result is the "Refined Divorce Rate." It attempts to filter out a the large segment of the population that may create a distorted picture when the Crude Divorce Rate is used. The Refined Divorce Rate for 2004 was 18.34 per thousand.
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