This
article is a brief comparative statistical overview of marriage and divorce in
The Bahamas. Each year in The
Bahamas more than two thousand resident couples get married, and about six to
seven thousand tourist (non-resident) couples come to The Bahamas to be joined
in Holy Matrimony. The Bahamas is
one of the hot spots internationally for tourist weddings and honeymooners.
Over one hundred thousand newly weds come to The Bahamas each year for
their honeymoon. In 2002, 112,000
honeymooners visited our golden shores to enjoy the first days of their
marriage in our sun, sand, and sea.
At
many of the large hotels, wedding bells can be heard each week.
Some of the hotels have more than 100 couples getting married in a
given month. It has become a lucrative business for local ministers of the
gospel and others who conduct these weddings as they often take home a healthy
pocket full of contributions for their services.
It is impossible for us to measure statistically how these non-resident
couples make it in their marriage. However,
let us look closely at our local marriages
and compare them with other countries.
It is important to note that the statistics we are about to share do
not give the comprehensive picture of marriage and divorce.
We know that statistically five out of ten couples in North American
get divorced. However, like The
Bahamas, that figure does not measure those couples who separate on their own
or are emotionally divorced. It
seems that in The Bahamas many couples get married but not many get legally
divorced. In Jamaica, many
couples live together for a very long time and are reluctant to get married. Therefore it is important to understand that I will be
presenting the actual statistics of The Bahamas and various countries.
Let them speak for themselves.
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MARRIAGE
AND DIVORCE STATISTICS
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Statistically,
one out of every five marriages (1/5) in The Bahamas end up in divorce. There were 2,366 resident marriages and 503 divorces in 2000.
That is 25 percent of resident marriages in The Bahamas end up in
divorce each year. The crude divorce rate (that is how many divorces per
1000 population) for 2000 was
1.5 divorces per 1000 population. In 2001 marriages and divorces went down
significantly in The Bahamas. There
were only 1,700 marriages and 350 divorces.
The crude divorce rate for 2001 of 1.0 per 1000 population, was the
lowest since1984. Generally, The Bahamas has maintained a crude divorce
rate of 1.5 and a 25 percent
divorce rate since 1984. In
the United States the crude divorce rate is 4.95 per 1000 population.
For
years I boasted that the divorce rate in The Bahamas was very good because I
compared it with the United States where more than five out or ten marriages
end up in divorce. That is about 50 percent of the marriages.
However, when I began comparing other countries with The Bahamas, I
discovered that statistically, we were not in an admirable marriage position.
For example, in Jamaica in 2001, there were 22,301 marriages and only 1,691
divorces. That means that only one out of thirteen marriages (1/13) ended in
divorce, while in The Bahamas it was one out of five (1/5) marriages.
Jamaica’s crude divorce rate is only 0.38 per 1000 population as
compared to The Bahamas’ 1.5. After
looking over the crude divorce rates of many countries, it was obvious only a
few were higher than The Bahamas. The following rates are based on the 2000
statistics:
Sri
Lanka 0.15, perhaps the lowest in the world; Brazil 0.26, Italy 0.27, Mexico
0.33, Mongolia, 0.37, Chile 0.38 Jamaica 0.38, 0.39 El Salvador 0.41,
Ecuador 0.42, Mauritius 0.47 Thailand 0.58 Syria 0.65, Panama 0.68, Greece
0.76, China 0.79, Singapore 0.80, Albania 0.83, Portugal 0.88, Korea 0.88,
Trinidad 0.97, Guadeloupe 1.18, Barbados 1.21, Bahamas 1.6, Finland 1.85,
Canada 2.46, Australia 2.52, New Zealand 2.63, Denmark 2.81, United Kingdom
3.08, Russia 3.36, Puerto Rico 4.47, US 4.95
Note
carefully where The Bahamas stands. It is among one of the top twenty
countries with the highest divorce rate in the world.
It is also alarming to look at the percentage of marriages that end in
divorce each year:
Cuba 75%, Belarus 68%,
Russian Federation 65%, Sweden 64%, United Kingdom 53%, United States 49%,
Canada 45%, Bahamas 25%, Turkmenistan 18%, Italy 12%, Albania 7%, Macedonia
5%.
Cuba
has the highest divorce rate in the world with 75% of its marriages each year
ending in divorce. This is said to be due to the large migration population
and the little work available that pressures families to split up.
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WHO
GETS MARRIED IN THE BAHAMAS?
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I
selected the year 2000 as a sample year to illustrate the statistical
dynamics in Bahamian marriages. As already mentioned, there were 2,366
marriages in 2000. The most
popular months in 2000, and most years, for weddings in the Bahamas are
December (204) and January (215); with June (168) and July (175) coming
next. September is the least
popular month for weddings in the Bahamas (99).
The
age of the brides and grooms were equally fascinating.
There were four couples with a great disparity in age who got married
in 2000. There were two couples
where the bride was between the ages of 15-19 and the groom was 60 or older.
There were two couples were the groom was between the ages 15-19 and
the bride was over 60 years old. The
greatest age group of people getting married (238), was where the bride was
between ages 30-34 and the groom was also between ages 30-34.
Very few couples got married where both partners were over the age of
60 (24).
Based
on the 2000 statistics, couples married for 10-14 years (121) and over 20
years (123) had the highest divorce rate.
Couples married under 5 years seldom divorced.
Children
seem to play a big factor in divorce decisions. Couples with zero to three
children were more likely to get divorced than couples with a great number of
children. Look at the statistical
breakdown from the 503 divorces in 2000.
No children, 172 divorces; one child, 133 divorces; 2 children, 110
divorces; three children, 61 divorces; four children 16 divorces; six
children, 1 divorce; eight to nine children, no divorce; ten or more children,
four divorces. Is this saying
that there is a better guarantee of staying together in marriage if you have
lots of children. I hope not.
Remember, that statistics do not measure the level of happiness and
contentment in marriage.
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STRENGTHEN
MARRIAGES
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We
must take the time to strengthen our marriages in The Bahamas.
As far as marriage and family life are concerned, we are not in a
healthy position globally. Couples
must find more ways of developing long-lasting loving, and mutually
supportive relationships. Churches and other institutions need to provide
more programs to strengthen marriages.
Barrington H. Brennen is a marriage and family therapist.
You can reach him at 242-327-1980 or email
info@soencouragement.org ,
or write SOE P.O. Box
CB-13019,
Nassau, Bahamas. Visit the web site www.soencouragement.org
