Understanding How Divorce Statistics Affect You
If you listen to the news, you have heard about divorce statistics. They are constantly in the news and people regularly decry them as appalling. Current statistics suggest that half of all new marriages will end in divorce, and many people suggest that these divorce statistics suggest some type of crisis in family life. Divorce statistics suggest that there were 957,200 divorces in this country in 2000, 944,317 in 1999, and 947,384 in 1998. Yet, divorce statistics are not the complete picture, as people are still getting married. The total number of marriages in the nation was 2,355,005 in 2000, 2,366,623 in 1999, and 2,267,854 in 1998. Therefore, there are still many people willing to make a lifelong commitment to each other. Divorce statistics at best tell only a partial story. They may affect you in the sense that you are more likely to see couples around you going through divorces, but they do not necessarily mean that you are more likely to go through a divorce. Despite the statistics, many marriages formed today will in fact last a lifetime. How much should you worry about divorce statistics? If you get married today, do divorce statistics mean that your chances of having the marriage last are only one in two? What is the real value of divorce statistics? If you have ever considered marriage, these questions - or others like them - may have occurred to you. The truth is, while divorce statistics are interesting and make interesting copy, they should not affect your decision to get married. Most experts on marriage agree that divorce statistics are misleading because they give many people the false impression that there is some basic reason why more people get divorced. The truth is, divorce statistics will not necessarily affect you.