Divorce Rate
Divorce Rate by country
Commentary
Notable countries
The lowest recorded divorce rate is in the Philippines at 0 per 1,000 population, followed by a cluster of countries at 0.1 including Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, South Sudan, Nepal, Niger, Timor-Leste, Liberia, and Lesotho. At the other end, Russia has the highest rate at 4.2, with Georgia (3.8), Belarus and Moldova (3.7), and Latvia and Ukraine (2.9) also among the highest. A notable pattern is that many of the lowest-rate countries are in Africa and Asia, while several of the highest-rate countries are in Europe.
Regional trends
Europe has by far the highest continental average divorce rate at 1.791 per 1,000 population, well above the global mean of 0.9831. Asia is also above the world average at 1.143, while North America sits close to it at 0.9652. South America (0.6583), Oceania (0.5357), and especially Africa (0.3667) have lower average rates.
Data source
The data come from the UN DYB 2022 and are measured as divorces per 1,000 population. Coverage includes 195 countries. As with any cross-country comparison, differences may reflect reporting and registration practices as well as underlying divorce patterns.
Interpretation
Because lower is better for this metric, higher values indicate divorces are more common relative to population size, while lower values indicate they are less common. The wide spread between 0 and 4.2 per 1,000 population shows substantial variation across countries and regions. Overall, the data suggest divorce rates tend to be lower in Africa and higher in Europe, but country-level differences remain large.