Americans marry and divorce more often than almost anyone else in the world.

They walk up the aisle twice as often as the French. In 1992, they also said "I do" at a rate 40 percent more than Germans, 30 percent more than Japanese, 25 percent more than Canadians and 20 percent more than Mexicans.In fact, according to a newly compiled U.N. survey, the only people considerably more marriage-happy are Cubans, many of whom are devout Catholics. In 1992, their marriage rate was double that of Americans'.

Also more likely than Americans to tie the knot, though the difference is slight, are the people of Guam - a mostly Catholic U.S. territory - and Mauritius - a mostly Hindu and Christian island nation off the African coast.

But as the U.N. data and another recent report show, many Americans don't live happily ever after. Half of their marriages end in divorce. But they don't give up. Rather, they give it another go.

Nearly half of all U.S. weddings in 1990 were remarriages for one or both partners, according to a report released last week by the Population Reference Bureau, a private nonprofit research group.

So the obvious question is this: Are Americans hopeless romantics?

"We're looking for successful marriages," says Carol De Vita, author of the bureau's report, entitled "The United States at Mid-Decade."

"Perhaps other cultures are more tolerant of difficulties in amarriage," says De Vita. "Our expectations are very high. And when they're not met, we move on and remarry."

De Vita says Americans, through movies and advertising, put a lot of emphasis on romance.

David Murray, a social anthropologist, says Americans think of marriage as "an individual choice based on love."

In contrast, he says more traditional societies view it as a family decision based on economic and social considerations. To them, what's love got to do with it?

Murray, research director for Stats, a nonprofit research group, says American women are more economically independent and thus more capable of leaving a broken marriage.

Also, he says many countries shun divorce, especially those in the Middle East and Latin America where Islam and Catholicism are dominant forces. Consequently, they have a low remarriage rate.

But Murray says Americans are "marrying folk" likely to agree with Samuel Johnson, who once said: "Remarriage, sir, represents the triumph of hope over experience."

View Comments

Americans, though, have tempered their marrying impulse in the past few years.

The U.S. marriage rate - the number of marriages for every 1,000 residents - fell steadily from 10.5 in 1980 to 9.0 in 1993, according to U.N. data compiled by international market analyst Euromonitor.

Similarly, the divorce rate - the number of divorces for every 1,000 residents - has fallen, from 5.2 in 1980 to 4.6 in 1993.

De Vita says the divorce rate might be stabilizing because couples are waiting longer to marry for the first time, and thus their choices are more likely to be mature and selective.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.