DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS INTO DIVORCE TRENDS: SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS ON FAMILY STRUCTURES

Abstract

Divorce rates have shifted substantially across the globe since the mid-twentieth century, shaped by changes in economic conditions, educational attainment, urbanisation, and the legal frameworks governing marital dissolution. Drawing on peer-reviewed research and public demographic datasets, this review traces those trends, examines their socioeconomic determinants, and documents consequences for household composition and child wellbeing. Higher female labour-force participation is associated with increased union dissolution risk in contexts where marriage was historically held together by economic dependence, whereas educational expansion produces opposing effects depending on whether partners hold symmetrical or asymmetrical attainment levels. Children in post-divorce households face compounded disadvantages in income stability and educational outcomes, yet the magnitude of those effects is moderated substantially by the quality of co-parental cooperation and by the depth of social-safety-net provision. Persistent gaps remain in longitudinal evidence, especially in the Global South; targeted policy responses centred on income support, mediation services, and flexible custody legislation remain underbuilt in most contexts