Divorce may not yet be the norm in the United States, but it is a common experience—especially for the Baby-Boom generation. Overall, one-third of ever-married adults aged 20 or older have experienced divorce, according to a recent Census Bureau analysis of 2014 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The figure exceeds 40 percent among Americans aged 45 to 64—just about the age range of Boomers (50 to 68) in that year.
Percent of ever-married adults aged 20-plus who have ever divorced, 2014
| women | men | |
|---|---|---|
| Total, 20-plus | 33.7% | 33.0% |
| Aged 20 to 24 | 7.1 | 6.2 |
| Aged 25 to 29 | 13.4 | 10.1 |
| Aged 30 to 34 | 22.3 | 15.9 |
| Aged 35 to 44 | 30.8 | 27.4 |
| Aged 45 to 54 | 41.6 | 40.1 |
| Aged 55 to 64 | 42.6 | 42.5 |
| Aged 65 to 74 | 38.5 | 38.6 |
| Aged 75-plus | 24.0 | 24.4 |
The marital instability of the Baby-Boom generation has long been recognized. The higher prevalence of divorce among Boomers is due to events occurring as Boomers came of age—the Vietnam War and the changing roles of women. The war sent Boomer men scurrying onto college campuses to avoid the draft or into the jungles of Vietnam to fight the war. At the same time, Boomer women began to enroll in college and enter the labor force at much higher rates than earlier generations of women. These changes in the life course of young adults strained Boomer marriages and resulted in higher levels of divorce.
Source: Census Bureau, Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 2016
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