8 facts about divorce in the United States
In 2023, over 1.8 million Americans divorced. Additionally, a third of Americans who have ever been married have also experienced divorce.
Marriage & Divorce
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The link between a college education and a lasting marriage
College-educated women have an almost eight-in-ten chance of still being married after two decades.
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Record share of young women are living with their parents, relatives
A larger share of young women live at home with their parents or other relatives than at any point since 1940, as more attend college and marry later in life.
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Most U.S. Catholics hope for change in church rule on divorce, Communion
62% of U.S. Catholics think the church should allow Catholics who have been divorced and remarried without an annulment to receive Communion.
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What’s a sin? Catholics don’t always agree with their church
Almost nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics believe that some actions are offensive to God, but many American Catholics don’t agree with church teachings on what constitutes sinful behavior.
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Relatively few U.S. Catholics skipped annulment because of cost or complications
Pope Francis has announced major changes to the Roman Catholic Church’s procedures for marriage annulments. While the new changes are aimed at making annulments faster and less expensive, a recent Pew Research survey found that most divorced U.S. Catholics who did not seek annulments did not cite the complicated nature of the process as a reason.
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How the Supreme Court’s decision for gay marriage could affect religious institutions
Some legal scholars and others are trying to determine how a ruling granting same-sex couples a constitutional right to wed might affect religious institutions.
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Half of unmarried LGBT Americans say they would like to wed
Public support for same-sex marriage has surged: 57% of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, up from 36% in 2005 and 27% in 1996.
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Same-Sex Marriage, State by State
In June of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry nationwide. This timeline highlights the changes in state policies leading up to that ruling.
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Same-sex marriage makes some legal gains in Latin America
While laws allowing same-sex marriage have become more common in European countries and in U.S. states, gay marriage advocates also have gained ground in some parts of Latin America. Most recently, the Mexican Supreme Court issued a ruling making it much easier for gay and lesbian couples to wed.
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How many same-sex married couples in the U.S.? Maybe 170,000
A new research paper suggests that the number of married same-sex couples in the United States in 2013 may have been much lower than the Census Bureau’s initial estimate for that year.
