California Marriage, Family, and Divorce Facts and Statistics

You’ll find more than just California marriage and divorce rates here. We’ve compiled a thorough list of California marriage, family, and divorce facts and statistics from only trusted sources.

Fact: California established its first divorce law in 1851, which stated that the grounds for divorce included impotence, adultery, extreme cruelty, desertion or neglect, habitual intemperance, fraud, and conviction for a felony. (1)

Fact: During the Gold Rush, California had the highest divorce rates than anywhere else in the world. Women typically filed for divorce since “scarcity afforded them a wide variety of options.” (1)

Fact: California data shows that unmarried couples who know their unborn child will be a boy are more likely to get married before the child’s birth. This suggests that a father is less likely to marry his partner if she is carrying a baby girl. (2)

Statistic: In 2008, 22% of all Californians married chose to marry someone outside of their race or ethnicity. (3)

Statistic: In 2007, Californian unmarried mothers delivered 38.9% of all newborns. (4)

Statistics: Wondering about California marriage and divorce rates? The State of California does not provide clear statistics (according to California Research Bureau, California State Library), but recent data published by the US Census shows that in 2008, 8.3% of California men divorced and 9.9% of California women divorced. It is also reported that 19.5% of California men married and 17.8% of California women married. (5)

If you have a report or study with additional California marriage, family, and divorce facts and statistics, please share.  We plan to add to this list.

Sources
http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/98/04/stateground.pdf (1)
http://www.nber.org/digest/oct04/w10281.html (2)
http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/755-marrying-out.pdf (3)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/CA.pdf (4)
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/marr-div/Evaluation_tables.pdf (5)

This article was posted in Divorce Tips & Advice.