Divorce rates around the world (2026)
July 20, 2026 · 2 min read
Which countries divorce the most, which barely divorce at all, and why the United States no longer tops the list. The global numbers, explained plainly.
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Divorce statistics make headlines, but the global picture is more interesting than any single number. Countries differ so much in law, religion, and how they count that the divorce map of the world says as much about culture as it does about marriage.
The countries at the top
In United Nations comparisons, the Maldives has long recorded the world's highest divorce rate relative to population, at times exceeding 5 divorces per 1,000 people per year. Several Eastern European countries, including North Macedonia in some recent years, also post rates far above the global average. Exact rankings shift year to year because countries report on different schedules, which is why serious comparisons, like the OECD family database, always note the year being measured.
The countries at the bottom
At the other end, countries like Colombia have reported crude divorce rates below 1 per 1,000 people, and several South and Southeast Asian countries sit similarly low. Context matters here. In places where divorce is legally difficult, socially penalized, or where fewer people marry in the first place, a low rate does not automatically mean stronger marriages. It often means the exits are harder to use.
Where the United States fits
The American story is one of steady decline. The OECD notes that between 1990 and 2022, the drop in divorce rates was most pronounced in the United States of any member country. The US once had a claim to the highest divorce rate in the developed world after the peak around 1980. Today its crude rate is closer to the middle of the pack, higher than most of Western Europe but nowhere near the global leaders. For the full American numbers, see our US divorce statistics guide.
Why the trend lines point in opposite directions
Divorce is falling in the US partly because marriage itself has changed. People marry later, marry less often, and marry more selectively, so the marriages that do happen are more stable. Meanwhile rates have risen in countries like Italy, Portugal, and Spain as laws liberalized and cultural attitudes shifted. The world is not converging on one number; it is trading places.
If your own marriage is ending, the statistics matter less than the process in your state. Our state-by-state guides cover the rules where you live, and our eligibility check tells you whether the simple uncontested path fits.
