There's sure to be a lot of incredible sadness each year among partners and family members affected by our divorce numbers. |
I’ve been recording marriage and divorce numbers for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County since 1996. In spite of an estimated local population increase of over 25% in the past two decades we have had no significant increase in the number of marriage licenses issued. For example, we had exactly the same number of marriages in 2000 as we did last year.
This doesn’t mean we have fewer people in intimate and exclusive relationships, however, but fewer people are choosing to legally document them. Couples often feel it will be easier for them to break up if they aren't officially married but when these unregistered couples do break up, as is frequently do, they likely experience the same distresses divorced partners go through, or worse.
Unfortunately, they just aren't included in the marriage and divorce numbers below:
Year Marriages Divorces
1996 873 387
1997 950 405
1998 964 396
1999 932 405
2000 947 365
2001 1003 438 (most annual marriages)
2002 976 421
2003 961 399
2004 959 437
2005 889 381
2006 929 389
2007 925 434
2008 950 405
2009 903 347 (fewest annual divorces)
2010 879 358 (fewest annual marriages since 1996)
2011 933 433
2012 995 445
2013 924 484
2014 972 427
2015 955 474
2016 985 612 (most annual divorces)
2017 983 426
2018 935 476
2019 947 487
Clarification 1: Marriage numbers are based on the number of marriage licenses issued, and include those who come here from other localities to marry, whereas divorce numbers include only the breakups of people who live in the City or County. However, it is logical to assume that a roughly equal number of residents from here marry in other jurisdictions as marry here from other communities, so the numbers above should be reasonably valid for comparison purposes.
Clarification 2: One cannot assume a rate of divorce based on any one year's numbers, as in "45% of first time marriages in our community will end in divorce." (Many of the above couples are marrying or divorcing for a second, third or fourth time). But with numbers like these over a period of many years, one might safely conclude that the odds of a given marriage surviving are not nearly as good as we would like.
Meanwhile, not surprisingly, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, married adults are more satisfied with their relationship and more trusting of their partners than those who are cohabiting. Here are some of their findings:
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