Divorce Marital dissolution had risen for the two
decades preceding the 1980’s. However, the divorce
rate stabilized at the beginning of the 1980’s, and it
went on to experience a slight decline. In 1980, the
divorce rate was 22.6 divorces per 1,000 married
women. In 1989, the rate had fallen to 20.9. This de-
crease reflected more conservative social mores, as
well as increased cohabitation weeding out some of
those most likely to divorce. Again, a gender and ra-
cial disparity was evident, with 7 percent of men and
9 percent of women being divorced in 1989. The
number of divorced persons per 1,000 married per-
sons was 92 for whites and 203 for African Americans
at the beginning of the decade and 133 and 282, re-
spectively, at its end. Canadian divorce rates, mean-
while, continued to climb until the latter part of this
decade before they stabilized.Remarriage While increased cohabitation and sta-
ble but high divorce rates seemed to indicate disen-
chantment with marriage, this disenchantment was
mostly with particular marriages rather than the in-The Eighties in America Marriage and divorce 621
Marital Status, by Race and Hispanic Origin, for People Eighteen and Older,
1980 and 1990Marital Status 1980 * % of Total 1990* % of Total
All races 159,528 100.0 181,849 100.0
Married 104,564 65.5 112,552 61.9
Unmarried: 54,964 34.5 69,297 38.1
Never married 32,342 20.3 40,361 22.2
Widowed 12,734 8.0 13,810 7.6
Divorced 9,886 6.2 15,125 8.3
White 139,480 100.0 155,454 100.0
Married 93,800 67.2 99,450 64.0
Unmarried: 45,681 32.8 56,004 36.0
Never married 26,405 18.9 31,633 20.3
Widowed 10,938 7.8 11,730 7.5
Divorced 8,338 6.0 12,640 8.1
Black 16,638 100.0 20,320 100.0
Married 8,545 51.4 9,302 45.8
Unmarried: 8,093 48.6 11,018 54.2
Never married 5,070 30.5 7,141 35.1
Widowed 1,627 9.8 1,730 8.5
Divorced 1,396 8.4 2,146 10.6
Hispanic origin** 7,888 100.0 13,560 100.0
Married 5,176 65.6 8,365 61.7
Unmarried: 2,711 34.4 5,195 38.3
Never married 1,901 24.1 3,694 27.2
Widowed 350 4.4 548 4.0
Divorced 460 5.8 952 7.0* Numbers in thousands
** Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Source:U.S. Census Bureau.