Divorce Rate For People 50 And Older Has Doubled Since 1990: Pew

Older adults are getting divorced twice as often as they did in the 1990s while younger couples are splitting up less frequently, according to a report issued Thursday from the Pew Research Center.

Pew, which looked at data from the National Center for Health Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, said that in 2015, for every 1,000 married people 50 and older, 10 divorced; that was up from just five in 1990. And among people 65 and older, the divorce rate has roughly tripled since 1990, according to Pew, reaching six people per 1,000 married persons in 2015.

The rising divorce rate for those 50 and older — also called "gray divorces" — is linked in part to the aging of the Baby Boomers, reports Pew, which adds that as of 2015, Baby Boomers ranged from 51 to 69 years old.

"During their young adulthood, Baby Boomers had unprecedented levels of divorce. Their marital instability earlier in life is contributing to the rising divorce rate among adults ages 50 and older today, since remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages," said Pew. "The divorce rate for adults ages 50 and older in remarriages is double the rate of those who have only been married once (16 vs. eight per 1,000 married persons, respectively). Among all adults 50 and older who divorced in 2015, 48% had been in their second or higher marriage."

During the same time frame, 21 adults per 1,000 in the 40-to-49 age group divorced, which was up a bit from 18. However, people aged 25 to 39 divorced at a rate of 24 per 1,000 in 2015, as compared to 30 people per 1,000 in 1990. The decline, Pew said, is at least partially attributable to "younger generations putting off marriage until later ages."

"The median age at first marriage for men in 2016 was 29.5, and for women it was 27.4 – up from 26.1 and 23.9, respectively, in 1990," Pew said. "In addition, those who do end up marrying are more likely to be college-educated, and research shows that college-educated adults have a lower rate of divorce."

Read the full Pew report here.

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