Marriage and Divorce Decline During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Five States
The decline in marriage and divorce was evident prior to the pandemic, but it remains unknown whether these patterns have persisted during the pandemic. We compared monthly marriage and divorce counts for two years prior to the pandemic (2018 and 2019), and during the pandemic for the five states that published monthly vital statistics data for 2020 (Arizona, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon). All five states witnessed an initial dip in marriage. Counts of marriages in Arizona and New Hampshire rebounded. In contrast, a marriage shortfall occurred in Florida, Missouri, and Oregon. In the early pandemic months divorces initially declined in all five states and rebounded in Arizona. In the remaining four states a divorce shortfall has occurred. Based on these results we provide national estimates of the marriage and divorce response to the pandemic. As more data become available it will be important to acknowledge these state variations in response to the pandemic.