The statistics below were taken from US Divorce Statistics.

There were approximately 2230,000 marriages in 2005, down from 2279,000 the previous year. This is despite a total population increase of 2.9 million over the same period.

The divorce rate in 2005 ( per 1000 people) was 3.6- lowest rate since 1970-down from 4.2 in 2000 and fro 4.7 in 1990.

The marriage rate in 2005 (per 1,000 people) was 7.5, down from 7.8 the previous year.

In 2004, the state with the highest reported divorce rate was Nevada at 6.4 per 1,000. Arkansas was a close second with a divorce rate of 6.3.

8.1% of coupled households consist of unmarried heterosexual partners, according to The State of Our Unions 2005, a report issued by National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. The same study said that only 63% of American children grow up with both biological parents- the lowest figure in the Western World.

As of 2003, 43.7% of custodial mothers and 56.2% of custodial fathers were either separated were either separated or divorced. And in 2002, 7.8 million Americans paid about $40 billion in child and/or spousal support. (84% of the payers wee male).

Americans tend to get married more between June and October than during the rest of the year. In 2005, August had the most marriages at about 235,000 or a rate of 9.3 per 1000 people. The previous year, July was the highest month at 245,000 or a rate of 9.9. This doubled the lowest month in 2004, January.

In 2002, the percentage of population never married = 24% . In 2002- the percentage of population divorced = 10%.

The following information is taken from Marty Friedman’s web page.

Many more couples live together than in the past- an estimated 60%. These couples are less likely to stay married, probably due to the fact they are less conservative about marriage and divorce in the first place. The percentage of the population that is married- 59%, it is down from 62% in 1990. The rate was 72 % in 1970.

According to the Harvard University Press, 80% of the divorces are unilateral.

Divorce increased almost 40% from 1970 to 1975. This last statistic was taken from the National Center for Health Statistics.

The number of currently divorced adults quadrupled from 1970 equaling 4.3 million. This was to 1994 where that statistic was 17.4 million. This is according to the Census Bureau.

The percentage of people who have ever been married by the age of 55, both male and female=95%. The estimated percentage of re-marriages that ended in divorce in 1997 was between 60% and 70%.

The percentage of couples living together for more than five years who eventually marry as of 1995=70%.

                       How divorce impacts children?

In the year 1996, children of divorce were 50% more likely than their counterparts from intact families to families with divorce. These statistics were taken from National Center of Health Statistics.

Fatherless homes account for 63% of the youth suicides, 90% of the homeless/runaway children. This accounts for 85% of children with behavior problems, 71% of high school dropouts, 85% of the youths in prison and well over 50% of teen mothers. These statistics were taken from the National Center of Health Statistics.

Mr. Marty Friedman has a book ( I have not read the book) he seems to be knowlegable on the subject. Want to read this book. Straight talk for men about Marriage –What Men Need to Know About Marriage ( And What Women Need to Know About Men  by Marty Friedman.