The South has the highest rate of divorce and the Northeast has the lowest, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report that based its findings on data collected by American Community Survey in 2009.
Per 1,000 for Southern men, the divorce rate is 10.2, for women its 11.1. The national average was 9.2 for men and 9.7 for women.
CNN reports that a census official explained the difference on the fact that more people get married in the South.
“Divorce rates tend to be higher in the South because marriage rates are also higher in the South,” said Diana Elliott, a family demographer at the Census Bureau. “In contrast, in the Northeast, first marriages tend to be delayed and the marriage rates are lower, meaning there are also fewer divorces.”
The study also made some other findings:
— Women who divorced in 2009 were more likely than recently divorced men to be in poverty.
— Seventy-five percent of children living with a parent who divorced in 2009 lived in a household headed by their mother.
— Children living with a parent who divorced who year were more likely to be in a household below the poverty level.
Read CNN article.