A Glimpse at the Marriage & Divorce Statistics for Utah

 

Abstracted by David Schramm
Utah State University, Department of Family and Human Development, Logan Utah


Have you ever wondered what the status of marriage is in Utah? Do you know what Utah's divorce rate is? The following information, taken from a report by the Center for Health Data, Office of Vital Records and Statistics entitled, "Utahs Vital Statistics: Marriages and Divorces 1999-2000" gives a variety of marriage and divorce statistics for Utah during the year 2000.

  • Utah's estimated midyear population in 2000 was 2,246,554.
  • There were 23,896 marriages that took place and 9,604 divorces granted.
  • Utah's marriage rate is 10.6 per 1,000 populations, well above that of the United States, which stands at 8.7.
  • Utah's divorce rate is 4.3 per 1,000 populations, slightly higher than the United States divorce rate of 4.1.
  • Of the 23,896 marriages that took place in Utah, 17,330 (72.5%) were first marriages for both bride and groom, while 6,325 (26.5%) of them were remarriages for the bride or groom.
  • Median age at first marriage in Utah - Groom: 23 Bride: 21
  • Median age at first marriage in United States - Groom: 26.8 Bride: 25.1
  • In Utah, 77% of the marriages are performed by a religious officiant compared to 23% performed by a civil officiant. Moreover, 66% of all marriages in Utah are performed by an LDS officiant.
  • 60% of brides in first marriages have had at least one or more years of college.
  • 17.6% of the brides married in the year 2000 were less than 20 years old.
  • The month of August is when the greatest amount of marriages took place in the year 2000: 3074 marriages took place during this month.

Divorce in Utah

  • Median age at divorce in Utah for first marriages: Husband: 31 Wife:29
  • There were 10,600 children involved in a divorce in Utah in the year 2000.
  • 18% of divorces in Utah occur in the first year of marriage (before the couple celebrates their first anniversary)
  • 50% of the divorces in Utah occur within the first 5 years of marriage and 70% by 10 years of marriage.
  • In the United States, roughly 20% of first marriages end within the first 5 years of marriage, and approximately 33% end within the first 10 years.