A recent study using data from a 2015 American community survey, revealed statistics about the relation between different occupations and the divorce rate. Some jobs do have higher divorce rates than others.
Although people tend to stay single longer and marry later in life or not at all, the divorce rate remains high all over the world. We know factors like unemployment increase divorce rates and level of education also play a role, but consider this:
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According to these stats, gaming managers, bartenders, flight attendants, bus drivers and telemarketers have the highest divorce rates between 48% – 53%. Psychologists, nurses, plumbers and artists have a divorce rate around 36%, while actuaries, healthcare professionals and engineers typically have the lowest divorce rates between 15% – 20%. |
| . The divorce rate often correlates with income and is lower among those with higher income occupations. Highly paid economists, pilots and software developers divorce less (between 20% – 25%) than educators, life-guards, detectives and editors who earn an average income but divorce at a rate between 30% – 35%. Those employed in agriculture, religion and the military also have low divorce rates around 20%, although not as highly remunerated. The lowest income group which includes bartenders, entertainers and ambulance drivers divorce most often at around 50%. |
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. Another interesting fact which emerges from these figures, is the relatively low divorce rate among lawyers, judges, magistrates and other judicial workers. At 28%, it is well below the median divorce rate of 36%. It would be safe to assume that the majority of legal eagles know how to maintain a happy marriage or at the very least avoid divorce. Perhaps they should be educating married couples rather than litigating them when they divorce. |
View the original interactive graphs on flowingdata.com to find your particular occupation group.
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Written by Sinta Ebersohn (Creator of fairdivorce.co.za – Stellenbosch RSA)