A 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics study found that 39.1% of second marriages after divorce had ended in divorce by age 55. It followed U.S. adults born from 1957 to 1964. This is a cohort outcome through a set age; it cannot establish a current or lifetime rate for all second marriages.
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Who got counted?
The BLS study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Its second-marriage rows cover people who remarried after divorce. The researchers used survey weights to represent the birth cohort living in the United States when the survey began.
The survey overview explains that researchers return to the same people over time. This design follows one generation through life. It does not replace that group with a new sample of all adults each year.
Second marriages after divorce, observed through age 55
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| Source group | Second marriages ending in divorce by age 55 |
|---|---|
| All | 39.1% |
| Men | 38.8% |
| Women | 39.5% |
“Denominator” means the full group used to calculate a percentage or rate.
How to read it: Source: BLS, Patterns of marriage and divorce from ages 15 to 55, Table 4 (September 2024). Denominator: people in the NLSY79 birth cohort, born 1957 to 1964 and living in the U.S. in 1979, who remarried after divorce. Weighted outcomes through age 55, using interviews through 2020 to 2021. These are cohort shares with different possible marriage durations; no current or lifetime probability is established.
Download the table (CSV) ↓What does the age limit change?
The study stops the marriage history at each person's 55th birthday, using interviews collected through 2020 to 2021. A second marriage could end later. The reported share therefore cannot answer how many of these marriages will ever end in divorce.
Consider two hypothetical people who remarry at 35 and 50. By Research Desk arithmetic, observation through age 55 gives the first marriage 20 years and the other five. Those ages are invented for explanation. They show why a shared age limit can allow different lengths of time for an outcome to occur.
Can you compare it with a first-marriage rate?
Check the time measured before comparing percentages. A first marriage and a later marriage can have different lengths of observation. People who remarry after divorce also form a selected group. Comparing their published shares alone cannot show whether remarriage itself changes the chance of divorce.
The CDC annual divorce rate uses divorces per 1,000 population. That unit answers a question about events during a year. An accumulated share within a birth cohort answers another question. Keep the unit, population and endpoint beside each figure.
Check a second-marriage claim before using it
Ask for the original source, who entered the denominator and when observation stopped. Does the figure count second marriages after divorce, or does it also include remarriage after a spouse died? Does it follow marriages for the same number of years? Leave any missing detail unknown.
For a question about years spent married, use the marriage duration and survival figures. The U.S. marriage measures explain other denominators. A statistic can help you check a headline while leaving decisions about your own relationship with the people involved.
