Unfortunately, more and more marriages end in divorce these days. But that doesn’t stop most people from getting married again after a divorce. So what are the remarriage statistics after divorce?
Here are the crucial remarriage statistics after divorce:
- 77% of marriages are first marriages and 23% are remarriages.
- The latest remarriage rate is 25.1 per 1,000 eligible people.
- Men have a consistently higher remarriage rate than women.
- The median age for remarriage is 48 for men and 44 for women.
But those are just a few of the statistics!
Intrigued to know more? Let’s get into a bit more detail about each of the statistics mentioned above. And we’ll look at all the related numbers and statistics to give you a completely well-rounded look at marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
Who is most likely to get remarried after divorce?
Here, I will try to show you the likelihood of remarriages with as many statistical angles as possible.
Most prominent is the fact that men are much more likely to remarry than women. 64% of divorced or widowed men have remarried, compared with 52% of previously married women. (source)
It should be noted that the available statistics do not separately analyze the likelihood of remarriage after the death of a spouse in contrast to divorce.
Most currently, men with divorced or widowed marital status are also more open to the idea of remarriage than women. (source)
Among previously married men, 65% either want to remarry or are not sure; 30% say that they don’t want to remarry. Among women who are currently divorced or widowed, only 43% say they may want to remarry, while 54% say they are not interested in a new partner. (source)
I, myself, have been married and divorced twice.
And while I would not say I am currently actively seeking a 3rd marriage, I would be open to it with the right person. In contrast, my ex, who has known her current boyfriend for 7 years and got into a serious relationship before we were legally divorced, continues to claim she has no interest in getting married again.
As far as the racial demographics is concerned, black divorcees are less likely to remarry than white divorcees. (source)
Black non-Hispanic women have the lowest remarriage rates, and white non-Hispanic women are the most likely to remarry.
If you are also looking for the likelihood of a remarriage timeframe, you may find it interesting that 75% of divorced women remarry within 10 years. (source)
Women who were 25 or below during their first-time divorce are more likely to remarry than women at or above 25 at the time of divorce.
Another interesting fact on the likelihood of subsequent marriages has to do with money. The proportion of remarried is positively correlated with personal income for men but negatively for women. (source) That means men with more money are more likely to get remarried, while women with financial stress are more likely.
Also, the addition of children is likely to increase the chances of remarriages. An estimated two-thirds of those who end their first marriage in divorce will eventually remarry while they have young children as family members. (source)
It should also be noted here that the National Center for Family & Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University has found out that with time second marriages are becoming less common in the U.S. end. (source)
As you are thinking about remarriage, you should keep in mind that it’s important to complete the divorce process before you can remarry. Read all about this complex situation in my recent article here.
What is the success rate of remarrying an ex-spouse?
To be honest, there aren’t many robust studies or research that have been done on this topic from an institutional perspective.
The most acclaimed study on the matter suggests a 72 percent success rate of remarrying an ex-spouse.
Or more specifically, the study found that around 72 percent of couples who remarry their former spouse after a divorce end up staying together till the end, especially if their first divorce happened at a young age. (source)
That’s a great finding and a very positive one.
In fact, marriages with ex-spouses seem to be much more successful than other second marriages, as many sources claim that up to 67% of all second marriages fail. Although this number is contested, the original numbers are not far from it, as we will see in the next section of this article.
Now, if you are wondering how many couples get back together after a divorce, according to the same research, that number is 6%.
Although that number doesn’t sound much big, given the topic we are dealing with, it’s quite a healthy number.
And, if we take a general reconciliation after divorce into account, up to 15% of divorced couples eventually reconcile. This may or may not lead to remarriage, but they forgive each other and end up being in an amicable new relationship as human beings.
Ross.. the divorce force! pic.twitter.com/q8OtJNgV
— F.R.I.E.N.D.S (@theonewhere_) December 12, 2012
Are divorcees more likely to get divorced again?
Statistics unanimously suggest that divorcees are more likely to get divorced again.
However, there are widespread debate and misinformation raging all over the internet about the exact numbers. If you Google, you will see that many reputed sources are claiming that the divorce rate of first marriages is 50%, second marriages 67%, and third marriages end 73% of the time.
Or something along that line.
And many other sources also offer warnings that the above statistics are not based on actual data. I also did my due diligence and couldn’t find any authoritative sources for those stats.
The most authoritative of all stats on the remarriage divorce rates in the United States are from a comprehensive CDC report that states the following:
Around 23 percent of second marriages end in separation or divorce after 5 years or remarriage, and 39 percent after 10 years. (source)
To dig a bit deeper, after 10 years of remarriage, the probability of disruption is 47 percent for women who were under the age of 25 at the time of remarriage and 34 percent of women at least age 25 at remarriage.
The same study also reports that after 10 years, one-third of first marriages have been disrupted.
So, this gives us a quite clear picture that although the statistical probability of divorcees getting divorced again is higher, the difference is not so high as some reputable sources paint it to be.
Also, keep in mind that women younger than 25 years old at remarriage are more likely to experience a second marital disruption than are women over age 25 years at remarriage.
On the other hand, research has suggested that the remarriages of black women are less stable than those of white women. (source)
Given this dynamic situation surrounding multiple divorces, if you are wondering how previous relationships of your partner can affect your dating life, do not miss my recent article on dating someone who has been divorced twice.
How long do second marriages typically last?
The median length of a second marriage that ended in divorce is more or less around 8 years. (source).
However, you have to be careful when dealing with this number. It’s not showing us the most common duration of a second marriage. It’s just the middle number of all the number of years a second marriage could have lasted.
To get a clearer view of how long second marriages typically last, we again have to go back to the CDC report that minutely details the marriage disruption possibilities by age group.
As I mentioned earlier, around 23 percent of second marriages end in separation or divorce after 5 years or remarriage, and 39 percent after 10 years. That means around 60% of all second marriages last at least more than 10 years.
But with a longer period of time, the chances of divorce increase in a second marriage, just like in a first marriage.
Although there’s no reliable data on this for second marriages, we can safely get a picture by looking at the data from the first marriage.
The U.S. Census Bureau analysis clearly shows us that with time, the percentage of divorce increases significantly in different ways.
While after 5 years, approximately 10 percent of first marriages ended in divorce. It keeps rising with time and reaches the 40% mark at the 50th year of marriage overall.
Given that the median duration of second marriages that ended in divorce did not differ from that for first marriages, we can safely assume that the above duration and divorce data will be similar for second marriages as well.
Do you want to dive a bit deeper into the nature and duration of new relationships after divorce?
Head to my recent article on how to know the post-divorce relationship will last or not. I cover how long to ideally wait after a breakup before starting a new relationship as well as how to know if your new relationship is really just a rebound.
Just click that link to read it on my site.
While many couples see remarriage as a second chance at happiness, the statistics tell a different story. According to Census data, the divorce rate for second marriages in the United States is over 60% compared to around 50% for first marriages.#narcissisticabuse #narcissist pic.twitter.com/fXX5nBinTo
— Life Is Love School (@LifeIsLoveTweet) October 5, 2020
Odds of remarriage after ages 40, 50, and 60
Pew Research Center has conducted the most reputed research on the odds of remarriage after ages 40, 50, and 60. It reports that with age, the possibility of getting remarried increases significantly.
So, if you are over forty and having a fresh start for the second time is one of your life goals, you are in for luck!
In fact, the age group that has the highest percentage of remarriages is 55-64. (source) However, the incidents of remarriages between older adults from 65 and above started to decline quite a bit.
On the other hand, remarriage in the age group 35 to 44 is 57%, which is also quite robust but not much compared to what it used to be. In 1960, this age group witnessed 76% of remarriages. That means the number of remarriages in that age group is declining with time.
As for the age group 45 to 54, the percentage of remarriage is 63%. This group is showing a stable remarriage rate over the recent decades. By 1960, the percentage within this age group was 69%.
And young people between the age of 18 to 24 have the least remarriage rate of 29%.
However, you should also keep the time period from divorce in mind while analyzing these statistics, as 54 percent of divorced women remarry within 5 years, and 75 percent of divorced women remarry within 10 years. So, as more time passes from the time of divorce, the chances of remarriage increase.
Another stat to keep in mind is that even when the mother does remarry, it may not make much of a difference in terms of child support.
Children in blended families are similar to children in single-parent families.
Both groups of children encounter more difficulties than children living with both parents. The issues may include a lack of academic success, depression, behavioral complexes, and bad habits, such as drug and alcohol abuse.
On the other hand, health statistics suggest that remarriages have numerous significant health benefits. So, if you are still on the verge of this, get some solid inspiration on dating in your 50s from my recent article on the topic.
Conclusion
Divorce and remarriage statistics are somewhat of a contested topic. These statistics may not completely represent reality. You probably have read on the internet that half of all marriages end which is also a greatly debated statistic.
The data and statistics detailed in this article are as close to reality as possible. I have researched all the avenues, including American Community Survey, Census Bureau, CDC, and Academic publications, to find out the most authentic sources available.
Above all, you must remember that stats and data merely represent what is most prevalent.
Each life is unique, with its own set of infinite possibilities. So, no matter what the statistics say about remarriages and divorce, your new marriage and family life could very easily be something totally different.
Also, most of the statistics above do not include same-sex marriages. Available data on the number of divorces and remarriages are not much robust to be considered.
Image by Happy New Year from Pixabay
