Gray Divorce During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Drawing on emerging evidence that the pandemic appears to have impeded both the divorce process and actual divorces, we examined whether the gray divorce rate (i.e., divorce among adults aged 50+) declined following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data from the 2019 and 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) were used to track changes in gray divorce. With the 2021 ACS, we estimated pandemic-era gray divorce rates across sociodemographic subgroups for middle-aged and older adults. We then pooled the 2019 (N = 892,700) and 2021 (N = 898,828) data to examine whether the risk of divorce changed with the onset of the pandemic net of sociodemographic characteristics, distinguishing trends for middle-aged versus older adults.

The gray divorce rate dropped following the onset of the pandemic. This drop was more pronounced among middle-aged than older adults. For older adults, the divorce rate essentially stalled.

The gray divorce rate now mirrors the overall trend of modest decline in U.S. divorce patterns. Whether the gray divorce rate continues to shrink as society transitions to a postpandemic environment awaits future research.