Germany vs United Kingdom: Divorce rate

Germany
1.63 per 1,000 people
in 2022
United Kingdom
1.7 per 1,000 people
in 2020
Germany rank
26th
United Kingdom rank
23rd

Divorce rate over time

  • Germany
  • United Kingdom
0.511.522.53196019912022

How they compare

United Kingdom currently reports 1.7 per 1,000 people against 1.63 per 1,000 people in Germany, a difference of 0.07 per 1,000 people.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 56 shared years of data; in 1965 it was Germany ahead.

Germany ranks 26th and United Kingdom ranks 23rd of 43 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Germany averaged higher in 2 and United Kingdom in 4.

Head to head by decade

Decade Germany United Kingdom Difference Ahead
1960s 1.18 per 1,000 people 0.78 per 1,000 people 0.4 per 1,000 people Germany
1970s 1.56 per 1,000 people 2.01 per 1,000 people 0.45 per 1,000 people United Kingdom
1980s 2.18 per 1,000 people 2.65 per 1,000 people 0.47 per 1,000 people United Kingdom
1990s 2.03 per 1,000 people 2.8 per 1,000 people 0.77 per 1,000 people United Kingdom
2000s 2.41 per 1,000 people 2.51 per 1,000 people 0.1 per 1,000 people United Kingdom
2010s 2.05 per 1,000 people 1.87 per 1,000 people 0.18 per 1,000 people Germany
2020s 1.7 per 1,000 people 1.7 per 1,000 people 0 per 1,000 people

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher divorce rate, Germany or United Kingdom?
United Kingdom, at 1.7 per 1,000 people against 1.63 per 1,000 people in Germany as of 2020.
What is the difference in divorce rate between Germany and United Kingdom?
0.07 per 1,000 people, with United Kingdom ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and United Kingdom?
56 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2020.
How do Germany and United Kingdom rank globally for divorce rate?
Germany ranks 26th and United Kingdom ranks 23rd of 43 countries.
Where does this data come from?
OECD (2025) and other sources – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Divorce rate. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Divorce rate
Unit
per 1,000 people
Source
OECD (2025) and other sources – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
43 places, 2,139 data points, 1960–2022
Last refreshed

Number of divorces during a given year per 1,000 people.