- Feb 5, 2002
- 186,383
- 68,707
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
The rate of married couples filing for divorce has begun to trend downward in recent years, but the rate of “gray divorce” — divorces of couples in their 60s or older — has continued to climb.
A July 2025 report from the Institute for Family Studies found that about 40% of today’s first marriages will end in divorce — much less than the oft-cited estimates of about 50%. This is partly because marriages are more selective and some younger people are waiting longer to marry or shunning marriage altogether.
In spite of that overall downward trend, the report explains that the 40% estimate is based on the assumption that divorce rates will remain stable. It acknowledges though that “prediction is no easy task,” and if later-year divorce rates continue to surge, the number of divorces may be higher.
A 2024 study by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University found that the divorce rate among married couples aged 65 or older nearly tripled over the past three decades, from about 5.2% in 1990 to 15.2% in 2022. Divorce among older couples is frequently called gray divorce.
Julia Dezelski, associate director of marriage and family life for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, told CNA the factors leading to gray divorce are often different from the factors that lead to divorce among younger or middle-aged married couples.
“The new challenges [are] faced by couples who find themselves newly ‘alone’ with themselves after their kids have left home for college, careers, etc.,” she said. “As empty nesters, the couple is faced with a new season of ‘rediscovery’ as a couple, and this can be a source of stress as well as disillusionment as they learn that the years of child-rearing and careerism may have changed them as individuals and as a couple.”
Continued below.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
A July 2025 report from the Institute for Family Studies found that about 40% of today’s first marriages will end in divorce — much less than the oft-cited estimates of about 50%. This is partly because marriages are more selective and some younger people are waiting longer to marry or shunning marriage altogether.
In spite of that overall downward trend, the report explains that the 40% estimate is based on the assumption that divorce rates will remain stable. It acknowledges though that “prediction is no easy task,” and if later-year divorce rates continue to surge, the number of divorces may be higher.
A 2024 study by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University found that the divorce rate among married couples aged 65 or older nearly tripled over the past three decades, from about 5.2% in 1990 to 15.2% in 2022. Divorce among older couples is frequently called gray divorce.
Julia Dezelski, associate director of marriage and family life for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, told CNA the factors leading to gray divorce are often different from the factors that lead to divorce among younger or middle-aged married couples.
“The new challenges [are] faced by couples who find themselves newly ‘alone’ with themselves after their kids have left home for college, careers, etc.,” she said. “As empty nesters, the couple is faced with a new season of ‘rediscovery’ as a couple, and this can be a source of stress as well as disillusionment as they learn that the years of child-rearing and careerism may have changed them as individuals and as a couple.”
Continued below.
Divorce rate rises for couples over 65
The rate of married couples filing for divorce has begun to trend downward in recent years, but the rate of “gray divorce” has continued to climb.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
