Are you thinking about getting remarried after you divorce your current husband?
Do you wonder what the odds are of getting a divorce a second time are for women and men? If you’ve thought about remarrying and wonder if this one will be for the forever marriage, you are not alone. 44% of divorced women over the age of 25 remarry according to statistics provided by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. Meanwhile, 55% of divorced men whom are over the age of 25 remarry. Women are less likely to remarry than men. The remarry rate declines based on either 1) as a woman gets older and 2) if the woman gets divorced later in life.
The remarriage rate for middle aged women from 45-64 is half the rate of middle aged men. Ethnicity also plays a role. 58% of white women remarry within 5 years of divorce. However, only 44% of Hispanic women and only 32% of African American women remarry within the same time period of 5 years after the divorce. Women who divorce before the age of 25, have an 81% likelihood of getting remarried within 10 years. However, the number drops to 68% for women who are 25 or older. Location plays a role too. If you live in Texas, you are more likely to get remarried whereas if you life in Seattle, you are less likely.
What’s the likelihood that my second marriage will end in divorce?
Not as good as your first marriage. Overall, the divorce rate within 5 years of marriage for second marriages is 25%, where as the divorce rate within 5 years of the first marriage is 20%. Interestingly, the length of the marriage is fairly equal for first time v. second time marriages. First time marriages have an average lifespan of 7.9 years where as second marriages last 8.1 years for women.
While the likelihood of remarriage has been declining, so has the success rate of those remarriages. During the last half of the twentieth century, the percentage of women who remarried and subsequently divorced their second husband within 5 years increased by 37.5%. Finally, having children from a prior marriage increases the likelihood of divorce for women. One bright spot, the older the woman is when she gets remarried, the more likely it is to last increasing the odds that the marriage will last by 38%.
