What Is Your Likelihood of Getting a Divorce?

If you’re a Native American woman in your 50s, you are almost two-and-a-half times more likely to get a divorce than an Asian woman. A man in the same age group who is not in the labor force is almost 10% more likely to get divorced than a man who’s employed. These statistics are according to recent data that was released by the data analysis company FlowingData – who based their results on a 2014 American Community Survey that collected divorce and remarriage rates among men and women of various age groups in the U.S.

Results revealed that the chances of someone getting a divorce or remarried can increase or decrease depending on the person’s level of education, employment, and race or origin. The data also showed that the number of people divorced or remarried also increases with age and, in most cases, women are more likely to get a divorce than men.

Employment Status and Divorce

When observing data for the men and women who were surveyed, the odds of divorce are higher when an individual is unemployed rather than employed – and the difference in divorce rates between the two categories drastically increases for men. However, while the likelihood of divorce increases if a man is not in the labor force compared to if he was employed, in comparison, the odds of a woman divorcing decreases if she is no longer in the labor force.

Here’s how men and women in their 50s compare in the rate of divorce based on education level:

• Employed: 15% of men and 19% of women are divorced or remarried
• Unemployed: 21% of men and 25% of women are divorced or remarried
• Not in Labor Force: 6% of men and 6% of women are divorced or remarried

Keep in mind, as the age increases, the number of divorced women who are not in the labor force becomes dramatically less than men in the same category – 34% of women, compared to 42% of men, in their 90s stated they were divorced.

Education and Divorce

When it comes to how education levels impact the likelihood of divorce, in general, educated couples are more likely to stay in a marriage.

Here’s a comparison between men and women in their 50s:

• High school or less: 14% of men and 12% of women are divorced or remarried
• Bachelor’s: 10% of men and 12% of women are divorced or remarried
• Advanced: 7% of men and 11% of women are divorced or remarried

Race or Origin

Based on the findings, black and Native American women and men are the most likely to go through a divorce or remarry. Asian individuals are the least likely to end their marriages. These are the survey’s results when looking at men and women in their 50s:

• Native: 19% of men and 19% of women are divorced or remarried
• Black: 16% of men and 16% of women are divorced or remarried
• White: 12% of men and 13% of women are divorced or remarried
• Hispanic: 12% of men and 16% of women are divorced or remarried (These numbers increase with age at a slower rate than white men and women)
• Asian: 7% of men and 8% of women are divorced or remarried

As the ages increase, so do the number of divorces – revealing that the rate of grey divorces is increasing. What the data also reveals is that the number of divorcing people does not go beyond 45%, meaning couples are still more likely to stay married.