Marriage. It’s one of the oldest human institutions on the planet, woven into every culture, religion, and society we know of. Yet in the 21st century, a question hangs in the air: how many of those unions actually last? The answer varies wildly depending on where you live, what laws govern you, how your religion shapes your choices, and yes, how much it costs to walk away.
Globally, the crude divorce rate roughly doubled from the 1970s to the 2000s. In the European Union alone, the divorce rate rose from about 0.8 per 1,000 people in 1964 to 2.0 per 1,000 in 2023, even as marriage rates fell by roughly half over the same period. Some of what you’re about to read will genuinely surprise you. Let’s dive in.
1. Maldives – 5.52 Divorces per 1,000 People (Highest in the World)
No country on Earth ends marriages more frequently than the Maldives. The Maldives, with a divorce rate of 5.52 per 1,000 people, leads the world in divorces, partly due to cultural factors and women’s empowerment. That figure, as staggering as it is, actually represents a sharp drop from earlier peaks.
The highest rate ever recorded belongs to the Maldives, with 10.97 per 1,000 people in 2002, which earned the country a Guinness World Record. Think about that for a moment. At its peak, roughly one in every 91 people was getting divorced in a single year.
The divorce process is relatively straightforward and inexpensive in the Maldives. Women have become more financially independent and can sustain themselves without husbands. Also, there is little to no stigma associated with getting divorced in modern Maldives. The United Nations reported that the average 30-year-old woman in the Maldives had already had three divorces.
Cultural norms play a key role: Maldivian society traditionally discourages physical relations outside of wedlock, which has led to a trend where couples rush into marriages. When the marriage doesn’t work, separating is just as quick. It’s a cycle rooted in culture as much as convenience.
2. Kazakhstan – 4.6 Divorces per 1,000 People
Leading the list after the Maldives is Kazakhstan, which has a divorce rate of 4.6 per 1,000 people. That makes it the world’s second-highest divorce-rate country by crude measure, and the gap between it and the Maldives is still significant.
Interestingly, despite the higher divorce rate, the Kazakhs still value the institution of marriage. Research shows that more than four-fifths of young Kazakhs aged 18 to 29 visualize their futures as married with children. So the desire to marry remains very much alive, even if marriages themselves tend to break down at unusually high rates.
Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan, a Muslim-majority Central Asian country, both see roughly 30 to 40 percent of marriages ending in divorce. Economic hardship, shifting gender roles after the Soviet era, and rapid urbanization all contribute to the pattern seen here. Honestly, it’s a country where society wants the dream of marriage even when the reality of it often falls apart.
3. Russia – 3.9 Divorces per 1,000 People
Russia has a divorce rate of 3.9 per 1,000 people. For a country with a population of over 140 million, that translates to an enormous number of broken marriages every single year. Russia has carried this distinction for decades.
The most common reasons include alcoholism, financial problems, a lack of mutual understanding between spouses, and infidelity. The economic problems caused by the fall of the Soviet Union continue to strain marriages to this day.
Russia’s no-fault divorce laws allow couples to divorce without providing a reason or proving fault. Additionally, you can file for divorce even if you aren’t legally separated. Russia sees around 74 percent of marriages eventually ending in divorce. That is an eye-watering proportion by any global standard.
4. Belarus – 3.7 Divorces per 1,000 People
Belarus has a divorce rate of 3.7 per 1,000 people, placing it firmly among the world’s highest. Like Russia, Belarus carries deep social scars from the post-Soviet period, and those scars show up clearly in marriage data.
Belarus, along with other Eastern European countries like Ukraine and Moldova, has high divorce figures due to socio-economic tumult and changing norms after the Soviet collapse. The secularization of society, poverty, and high rates of economic stress all play documented roles here.
Divorce rates in Eastern Europe, including Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, are higher than in other parts of the world for many of the same reasons: the low cost of the divorce process, financial instability and poverty, and in some cases, alcoholism of one of the spouses. The similarities across the former Soviet region are striking. It’s almost like the collapse of the USSR sent shockwaves through family life that are still reverberating today.
5. Belgium – 3.7 Divorces per 1,000 People
Belgium has a divorce rate of 3.7 per 1,000 people, tying with Belarus and making it one of Western Europe’s most divorce-prone nations. For a country known for chocolate and cycling culture, that statistic might raise a few eyebrows.
European countries generally occupy the upper and lower echelons of divorce rate lists, with higher divorce rates in Eastern Europe and lower divorce rates in the Mediterranean region. Belgium, despite being a Western European nation, falls squarely in the high-rate camp. Its permissive no-fault divorce laws, strong social safety nets, and high degree of financial independence among women all make leaving a marriage relatively accessible.
There is a clear shift in divorce trends globally, with the rise of divorces among older adults, sometimes referred to as grey divorce, and a decline in overall divorce rates in many developed countries. This is largely due to changing societal attitudes, delayed marriage, increased cohabitation before marriage, and greater financial independence, particularly for women. Belgium fits this pattern almost perfectly.
6. Moldova – 3.3 Divorces per 1,000 People
The country of Moldova is sixth on the list, with a divorce rate of 3.3 divorce cases per 1,000 people. Moldova is one of Europe’s smallest and poorest countries, and its divorce statistics tell a story of economic desperation and social instability.
Twelve percent of Moldovan girls are married before the age of 18, potentially leading to marriages involving immature partners unprepared for the commitment. Moldova has the lowest GDP in Europe, which creates money problems that lead couples to divorce.
Moldova’s situation is similar to other Eastern European nations: many couples marry young, and economic challenges put stress on families, resulting in high divorce numbers. Migration has led to many spouses living apart for work, increasing divorces. It’s a devastating cycle. Poverty pushes people apart, and few social structures exist to pull them back together.
7. China – 3.2 Divorces per 1,000 People
China has a divorce rate of 3.2 per 1,000 people. Given China’s population of over 1.4 billion, even a modest divorce rate per thousand translates into millions of dissolved marriages each year. The scale is almost incomprehensible.
China’s divorce rate climbed rapidly in the past two decades due to economic boom and social change. As millions moved to cities for work, traditional family structures shifted. Women’s financial independence increased, and divorce lost much of its stigma in urban areas.
The government also made divorce procedurally easier in the 2000s, allowing quick administrative divorces. By 2020, China’s divorce rate peaked around 3.4. However, China introduced a cooling-off period for divorces in 2021, which has slightly reduced the rate since then. That cooling-off rule is a fascinating experiment: essentially, the government mandated a 30-day waiting period before a divorce is finalized, which appears to be working to some degree.
8. Cuba – 2.9 Divorces per 1,000 People
Cuba has a rate of 2.9 divorces per 1,000 people, making it by far the highest-divorce-rate country in Latin America and the Caribbean. For a country with such a strong Catholic heritage in the region, that figure is genuinely surprising at first glance.
Cuba has a notably high divorce rate for Latin America. Marriage and divorce are relatively informal – Cuba’s government allows easy divorce, and the economic strains of low incomes and housing shortages often put pressure on couples. It’s common for Cubans to marry and divorce more than once. The high literacy and equality in Cuba also mean women are empowered to leave unhappy marriages.
Within the Caribbean and Central America, Cuba has an exceptionally high divorce incidence, with about 56 percent of marriages ending in divorce, reflecting the historical ease of divorce there. That’s more than half of all marriages. Let’s be real: when economic conditions are this difficult and the legal exit is this easy, staying together becomes the harder choice.
9. Ukraine – 2.88 Divorces per 1,000 People
Ukraine has a divorce rate of 2.88 per 1,000 people. That number takes on a particularly poignant weight given everything the country has endured in recent years. The data reveals something important about war, stress, and the limits of human resilience.
In 2024, Ukrainians got married slightly more actively than in 2023, but they also divorced faster, by 42 percent more than a year earlier. Behind the dry numbers of 141,800 broken marriages is chronic fatigue from war, separation, losses, overload, and general human exhaustion.
Ukraine historically has mirrored Russia and Belarus in divorce patterns: early marriages, challenging economic conditions, and the social acceptance of divorce contribute to a high rate. The ongoing conflicts and migration in recent years have further disrupted family life. It’s a deeply human story hiding behind a statistic.
10. United States – 2.3 to 2.7 Divorces per 1,000 People
The US divorce rates have been slowly declining over the past decade. The country reached a 2.3 crude divorce rate per 1,000 people in 2024. Despite that decline, the United States still sits among the world’s higher-divorce nations. The number of actual divorces filed each year remains enormous by any measure.
The Centers for Disease Control reported 663,425 total divorces in the U.S. in 2024, compared to 673,989 in 2022. One reason for this downward trend in marriage dissolutions is fewer marriages in the first place. Another factor is that couples start getting married later in life and after reaching a certain level of financial success.
The United States has long had one of the highest crude divorce rates among major countries, peaking near 5.0 in the early 1980s. In 2000 the U.S. rate was 4.0 per 1,000, but it has since fallen to 2.3 per 1,000 as of 2020. Divorce rates are exceptionally high among Americans aged 50 to 75, which is called a “gray divorce.”
11. Portugal & Spain – Among the Highest Divorce-to-Marriage Ratios in the World
Here’s where the data gets truly jaw-dropping. While crude divorce rates measure divorces per 1,000 people, the divorce-to-marriage ratio tells a different story. By far the world’s highest divorce rates by this measure can be found in Portugal, where 92 percent of all marriages end in a breakup, and Spain, with a divorce rate of 86 percent.
Divorce was only legalized in Portugal in the modern era, and in Spain in 1981, contributing to rising divorce numbers in those countries over time. Once the legal floodgates opened, pent-up demand for separation transformed the statistics rapidly. Globally, the crude divorce rate roughly doubled from the 1970s to the 2000s, and Spain and Portugal exemplify exactly that acceleration.
I think it’s worth noting how misleading a single metric can be. Portugal’s crude divorce rate per 1,000 people is much lower than Russia’s, but when you look at what percentage of marriages actually survive, Portugal leads the world in marital breakdown. Context is everything with these numbers.
The 8 Countries With the Lowest Divorce Rates
Now for the other side of the story. Cultural and religious norms are perhaps the most potent influences on divorce rates. Societies that emphasize the sanctity of marriage and the stigma of divorce maintain low divorce rates. Hindu and Buddhist traditions in South Asia treat marriage as a near-sacred, lifelong bond, and divorce is viewed negatively, hence countries like India and Sri Lanka have extremely low rates.
These figures can be misleading. A low divorce rate doesn’t automatically equate to marital bliss. Several factors can influence these numbers: legal barriers, where the process for obtaining a divorce is cumbersome; safety concerns, where women might be hesitant to leave a marriage; and economic constraints, where financial dependence acts as a significant barrier. Keep that in mind as you read through each country below.
Sri Lanka leads with a rate of just 0.15 divorces per 1,000 people. Sri Lanka has the lowest crude divorce rate globally. Legal obstacles to divorce could impact the low number of marriages that end there. India is arguably even more extreme: India has the lowest divorce rate worldwide in 2024, estimated to be 0.01 for 1,000 people. The country held the lowest global divorce rates in 2022 and 2023 as well. Despite having the world’s largest population at over 1.42 billion people, as few as 108 divorces were granted in India in 2021. That figure is almost incomprehensible.
Guatemala and Vietnam both follow at just 0.2 divorces per 1,000 people. Guatemala’s low divorce rate stems largely from its strong Catholic heritage and conservative social norms. Until recently, Guatemalan law did not easily permit divorce; even now there are requirements like a separation period. Culturally, divorce carries stigma, especially in rural indigenous communities. Many marriages are within close-knit communities where family pressure to stay married is high.
Vietnam is a notable exception in the region, where divorce is strongly culturally discouraged, especially in the northern and rural areas. The country’s dissolution rates fell from 0.4 in 2017 to 0.2 in 2024. Meanwhile, Malta ranks among the ten countries with the lowest divorce rates, with the lowest rate in the European Union at 0.7 per 1,000 people. Malta also has one of the lowest marriage rates in Europe. Divorce didn’t become legal in Malta until 2011, a fact that has influenced the divorce rate in the country.
Malta has the lowest divorce rate in Europe, due to restrictions placed on divorce by law. Couples have to live apart for at least four years to be eligible for divorce, and they have to convince the court that reconciliation is not possible. Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Peru round out the lowest-rate nations. Despite the divorce rate in Qatar rising by roughly 70 percent over the past decade, it is still less than the global average. The rise is attributed to factors such as busy lifestyles, financial issues, and societal factors. Peru sits at approximately 0.5 divorces per 1,000 people, held low by Catholic tradition, legal complexity, and strong family networks. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines sees an average of 0.4 divorces per 1,000 people, reflecting the small, traditional, and tightly knit social fabric of island life in the Caribbean.
What the Data Really Tells Us
Based on collected data for 58 countries, the average crude divorce rate in the world was about 1.7 per 1,000 people in 2025. That number masks an enormous range, from nearly zero in India to over five in the Maldives. The real takeaway isn’t the number itself but the forces behind it.
Divorce rates can serve as a lens to analyze societal norms, family structures, gender equality, and a nation’s legal framework around the institution of marriage. High divorce rates often signal more freedom and more legal access, not necessarily more unhappiness. Low divorce rates, on the other hand, sometimes reflect not marital harmony but legal barriers, cultural coercion, and limited options for women.
Countries with the lowest divorce rates, like Sri Lanka and Vietnam, may reflect legal difficulties or societal barriers rather than marital satisfaction. It’s a sobering reminder that a statistic is never the whole truth. The world’s “most committed” marriages and the world’s “most divorced” nations both deserve a more careful look before you draw any sweeping conclusions. What do you think – does where you live really shape whether your marriage will last?
