Babyboomers have been the number one force affecting demographic trends for the past 50 years or so, but is this still going on. When they were young adults, the Babyboomers raised the divorce rate to unforeseen heights. Surprisingly, now that they are over 50 years old, they are still a prime subject for divorce studies. The Huffington Post divorce section had a story about Babyboomers and divorce.
A study called "The Gray Divorce Revolution" by Susan Brown and I-Fen Lin suggests that the divorce rate for couples over 50 in the United States has been going up over the last 20 years. Their study inspects divorce rates from the year 1990 to 2010, and their main focus is people who are 50 or older. Brown and Lin noticed that the divorce rate in this age group has doubled over the 20-year period they were looking at. It has gone from 4.9 divorces in 1,000 married people in 1990 to 10 divorces in 1,000 people in 2010.
Even though the divorce rate for over-fifties has doubled during this period, the overall divorce rate has stayed quite similar, with 19 per 1,000 in 1990 and 18 per 1,000 in 2010. The number of people in their fifties and beyond is also higher now than it was in 1990. This can be seen from the 200,000 people over 50 divorcing in 1990, compared to about 600,000 in 2010. For more information on the matter, look at the Huffington Post story or the actual study.
Divorce courts will not ask if you are a Babyboomer or not, and the important thing is that you have a knowledgeable divorce attorney to help you with your case. Contact our experienced family law attorneys if you need help with a divorce or family law issue in Illinois.