(NewsNation) — The widely circulated claim that “50% of marriages end in divorce” is being put to rest, as researchers continue to document a decline in divorce rates in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, the overall U.S. divorce rate has been on the decline since reaching its peak in 1980. To put that into perspective, the center reports, for example, that the rate of women experiencing a divorce in 1980 was 22.6 per 1,000 married women. As of 2022, that number has dropped to 14.6.

“It’s like crime, people tend to assume it’s always going up or they assume it’s a part of modern life and it’s always worse than it’s ever been,” Philip Cohen, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, said in an interview with USA Today. “It’s not true. Divorce rates are down.”

Leadership at the center notes that this decline can be linked, in part, to a shift in marriage trends, with more people choosing to wait longer before getting married. Another factor worth considering is that marriage rates in the U.S. are also on the decline. According to USAFacts, in 2024, 47.1% of U.S. households were headed by married couples, compared to 78.8% in 1949.

“As people wait longer to get married, they’re more secure financially and emotionally mature, and that helps bolster marital stability,” Susan Brown, the center’s co-director, told USA Today. “Marriage has gotten rarer, but better, so the divorce rate has fallen,” Cohen said.

The Knot reports that in 2025, the average age of marriage in the U.S. is 32.