Did You Know?

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According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), divorce rates have significantly declined since 1990. No state saw a sharper decline in divorce between 1990 and 2007 than Nevada, where the divorce rates dipped from 11.4 percent in 1990 to 6.5 percent by 2007. Ironically, in spite of that sharp decline, Nevada still had the highest divorce of any state (including the District of Columbia) in 2007. Though no states had a divorce rate increase between 1990 and 2007, Maine had the exact same rate of divorce in 1990 as it did in 2007 (4.3 percent). Some states, including Maine, did have an increase in the divorce rate as the first decade of the 21st century wore on. Pennsylvania's rate, for example, increased to 2.9 in 2007 after dipping as low as 2.3 in 2005. Other states, including West Virginia, have had divorce rates remain remarkably steady. The divorce rate in West Virginia in 1990, for example, was 5.3, while that figure only slightly dipped to 5.1 by the year 2000 and once again reached 5.1 by 2007. To learn more about divorce rates, visit the NCHS Web site at www.cdc.gov/nchs.