Russian Divorce Rate Today

Russia was rated the top divorcing nation by the UN closely followed by Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova. In modern Russia more than every second marriage fails.

 

Comparative table of the crude Russian divorce rate [the number of divorces per 1,000 population] & the Divorce to Marriage Ratio 

country marriage divorce ratio year
 Russia 9.2 4.8 51 2011
Australia 5.4 2.3 43 2010
 EU 4.5 2.0 44 2010
 UK 4.3 2.0 47 2009

Why do couples drift apart? The survey held by the Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (www.wciom.com) shows the majority [65%] think both parties are to blame. The same public opinion poll revealed the following major causes of divorce:

  • infidelity [24%]
  • poverty [21%]
  • inability to compromise, misunderstanding, selfishness and conflict [19%]
  • alcoholism and drug abuse [16 %].

Interestingly, many respondents stated they did not believe in divorce and considered the family must be preserved by all means. However, the number of “marriage by all means” supporters has been gradually decreasing from 13% in 1990 to 12% in 2007 reaching the 10% mark in 2013.

Another study suggests the significant impact of social networks on relationship deterioration: attributing 15% of divorces to it.

How long do marriages last until the parties decide to go apart? More than a third of marriages doomed to fail [37.4%] are terminated within the first 5 years. In the following 5 years another quarter of those come to an end. The divorce statistics falls by half in the next 5-year term and further decreases thereafter.

Divorces and percentage distribution by the duration of marriage  [2011]
Total 669,376 100.0
Less than 1 year 33,567 5.0
1 year + 50,768 7.6
2 years + 58,099 8.7
3 years + 57,871 8.6
4 years + 50,042 7.5
5 – 9 years + 165,467 24.7
10 – 14 82,645 12.3
15 – 19 60,911 9.1
20 + 109,624 16.4
NA 382 0.1

 

Russian Divorce Statistics Historically

What does the divorce statistics in Russia look like historically? While marriage rates went low in 2000 and 2012 presumably following the financial crisis 1998-1999 and the Global Financial Crisis, the crude divorce rate remained fairly steady with the biggest leap taking place in 2007-2009.

Years Thousand Per 1000 of population
marriages divorces marriages divorces
1992 1053.7 639.2 7.1 4.3
2000 897.3 627.7 6.2 4.3
2005 1066.4 604.9 7.4 4.2
2007 1262.5 685.9 8.8 4.8
2008 1179.0 703.4 8.3 4.9
2009 1199.4 699.4 8.4 4.9
2010 1215.1 639.3 8.5 4.5
2011 1316.0 669.4 9.2 4.7
2012 1213.6 642.0 8.5 4.5

In pre-Soviet times divorce was exceptionally rare. It could only be granted by the Church.

The grounds for divorce were very limited: a proven adultery of a spouse; the inability to conceive; a judicial sentence depriving of the status privileges; or an exile to Siberia and deprivation of all rights and benefits; absence of a spouse for 5 years and more. Witness testimony and the proof of existence of illegitimate children were the leading evidence in divorce proceedings.

Unsurprisingly, the  XIX century Russian divorce statistics looks rather different from that of today: in 1840  only 198 divorces took place; in 1880 – 920; and in 1890 – 942.

1897 census indicated that just one man in a thousand was divorced, and there were two divorcees for a thousand of the female population. In 1913 in all of the Russian Empire totalling 98.5 mln Russian Orthodox Christians there were only 3791 divorces  equating to approximately 0.0038 % of the population.

High Divorce Rate: Good News or Bad News?

No-fault divorce has been good for many adults, writes Isabel Sawhill in her book ‘Generation Unbound’. Because they can walk away, unhappy partners have more power to demand change. Spousal suicide, domestic violence and the murder of husbands by wives have all fallen as a result. But “children have rights, too,” and the instability of a growing number of families harms them in many ways.

Materials used http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b13_12/IssWWW.exe/stg/d01/5-07.htm

More family statistics, marriage statistics and divorce statistics on this website:

Marriage statistics in Russia

Children Statistics in Russia