Level up your wine and cheese night with these expert recommendations
Level up your wine and cheese night with these expert recommendations

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Take a look inside Graham Norton’s historic Manhattan home
Take a look inside Graham Norton’s historic Manhattan home

Edaein OConnell

This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens
This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens

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Which City Has The Highest Divorce Rate?


By Jeanne Sutton
09th Jun 2015
Which City Has The Highest Divorce Rate?

Recently married and thinking of relocating so you can escape all those ?Are your eggs fertilised yet?? queries from nosy aunts? Well, there are some cities you and your official paramour should give a wide berth if you consider these statistics on major capital cities and their divorce rates.

Hopesandfears.com looked at ten major cities around the world to see which metropolis housed the longest marriages and lowest divorce rate. So which of the ten countries profiled offered the best chances for an eternal union? Rome! The Italian capital has a divorce rate of 30.7% with marriages lasting an average of 18 years. Pasta and a shot at everlasting love – let’s all move to Roma! After Rome Ottawa, Canada came in second place with marriages lasting 13.6 years and a national divorce rate of 48%. We put such connubial bliss down to the harsh winters that necessitate cuddling and good duvets. Paris, France was third with a divorce rate of 55%, which is pretty high for a city marketed as the hub of love. Marriages tend towards the 13-year mark in this city.

Although the fast-talking New York enjoys a lower divorce rate than Paris – 41% – marriages are shorter on average, coming in at 12.2 years, which is shorter than the US average of 8.2 years. Sydney, in sixth place, enjoyed similar statistics to New York – the average Australian marriage lasts 12 years, and the divorce rate is 43%.

Mexico City has been dealing with a short marriage crisis, with couples breaking up within two years of marriage. This has lead to the suggestion of temporary marriage licences to hasten early divorce proceedings and has seen the average length of marriages in the city plummet to 12 years. Tokyo, Japan has also seen a boom in divorce with unions lasting 11 years. However, this country likes to do things differently, and the notion of divorce ceremonies are catching on, so you and your former soulmate can ?celebrate? going your separate ways.

Rounding out the list of cities where it is likely your marriage won’t make it to the silver anniversary include London (11 years average length of marriage with a divorce rate of 42%), Cape Town in South Africa (11 years of marriage is the norm and the divorce rate is 31.2%) and if you really want to put a death knell to a partnership make like Doha. In the capital of Qatar, marriages last on average 5.5 years with 60% of couples splitting within five years. However, a lot of these separations occur without the marriage being consummated due to the practice of arranged marriages in the region.

And where does Ireland stand in these sort of world rankings? Well, we enjoy the lowest divorce rate in Europe – and we’re third lowest in the world. So maybe stay at home after the honeymoon so you can encourage the grandchildren with your shining example of decades-long commitment.

Hopesandfears.com

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun

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