---
"title": "Divorce After a Long Marriage"
"description": "According to a new Pew Research Center report on long-duration marriages and divorce, only about half the first marriages begun in the early 1970s lasted until their 25th anniversaries."
"date": "2010-06-04"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "D’Vera Cohn"
    "job_title": "Former Senior Writer/Editor"
    "link": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/staff/dvera-cohn/"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2010/06/04/divorce-after-a-long-marriage/"
"categories":
  - "Marriage & Divorce"
---

# Divorce After a Long Marriage

Census Bureau data can help answer the question of how likely it is that a long-lasting marriage, such as the 40-year-union of Al and Tipper Gore, will come to an end.

Only a small share of long-duration marriages end in divorce each year, but the likelihood that a first marriage remains intact dwindles with each anniversary. According to a new Pew Research Center [report on long-duration marriages and divorce](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/2010/06/04/at-long-last-divorce/), only about half the first marriages begun in the early 1970s lasted until their 25th anniversaries.