War on Divorce

Why do people decide to marry when the statistics shows that 50% of all marriages end IN DIVORCE?

According to the statistics 50% of all first marriages and even higher % of second marriages end in Divorce. So knowing this fact, what makes people still want to marry and why? is it just the foolish optimisim that it wont happen to them?

Public Comments

1. It is a survival technique.
2. That's exactly it. People feel they can be the exception. They want to change people and hope that they will be the part of the 50% that lives happily ever after.
3. No one cares about stupid statistics. It could say 90% of people who eat hamburgers are likely to turn into a rapist, but it doesn't mean it's true.
4. You still have a 50% chance of it working...and when it does work, no one can deny how awesome it is! So its definitely worth the risk =)
5. I think that they probably believe that they will be in the fifty percent that do not divorce.
6. That makes the odds even. A lot better than Vegas offers on any game.
7. People automatically think that when you get married it solves everything in relationships when in reality it only makes it harder. Kind of like when people rush into having kids the next thing you know the dad is on child support and never sees his kids. damn shame
8. Because the other 50% live happily ever after.
9. I guess a 50% chance is better than 0%.
10. maybe cause they have hope and they want to believe that they can do it.
11. Cause the other 50% don't end in divorce. Why assume you're going to be one of the divorced people? Marriage is hard work sometimes, it's not a case of "some win and some lose", a marriage has to be nurtured.
12. This question has been asked a million times. NO ONE is forcing anyone to get married in this country. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MARRY ANYONE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. But when it comes to others, it is none of your business. Marriage is an honorable state. Shacking up, not so much.
13. Because the majortiy of humans are stupid and thats why most people have credit card debt, too many kids, and are in the lower class. We are all dreamers and some of us think the glass is half full not half empty. So I think your right and it's the foolish optimisim. I wise man told me that to have a financial sucessful life have one home and one wife.
14. Well for 50% of people it does work. You must be one of those half-empty kind of people. My grandparents have been married 72 years I kid you not, college sweethearts and they still pinch each other on the bum. It's so sweet. So for some marriage WILL work, it just has to be with the right person. I personally think so many marriages end in divorce is because they didn't marry the right person for them. Choose wisely my son.
15. EVERYTHING in life has a 50% chance of working out. Why not give it a whirl?
16. You're leaving out the logic that way more dating relationships end in separation than divorce. For example, if you date your boyfriend for three months then break up, that is a 100% breakup rate. Next boyfriend you break up...again 100% breakup rate. After nine dating tries you marry the tenth guy you've ever gone out with. That marriage fails. You date another man, choose to remarry and end up staying together forever. So therefore 100% of your dating relationships ended and only 50% of your marriages ended. Technically marriage has a stronger chance.
17. i wanted to get married to make a commitment to my husband. i could care less about statistics. i have no foolish optimism that divorce wont happen to me, i lost any foolish optimism of 'it wont happen to me' about anything when i was diagnosed with cancer. my husband and i got married because we are in love and want to spend the rest of our lives together. does this mean that we will live happily ever after? no it means that we will work and strive to have the best possible relationship we can. Marriages that end in divorce have nothing to do with anything except that one or both people were too lazy or self centered to put time and effort into their marriage, or are because people foolishly rushed into something they didnt understand.
18. cuz 50% of the people are right
19. who doesn't want to wear a pretty white dress and plan a big celebration thats why they do it!
20. They say Love is Blind
21. What is the difference now and 35 years ago. We have become a disposable society. People toss out spouses the same way they do disposable diapers. Sometimes they confuse love with lust and don't communicate in marriage. As for second marrriages many of them are recycled with the same problems they had before. Problem with divorce will not be solved until couples live up to the old vows: for richer or poorer, in sickness & health until death do we part.
22. Because 50% don't.
23. LOVE HONEY, PLAIN AND SIMPLE! WHO SAYS YOU HAVE TO BE PART OF THOSE STATISTICS? MAKE YOUR OWN STATISTICS. HALF OF THE PEOPLE WHO COME UP WITH THOSE STATISTICS ARE SINGLE ANYWAY SO MAYBE IT'S JUST BASED ON THEM!
24. A 50% chance is still good odds. AND staying married is not like a game of chance, it's a choice. Like someone said above, modern society teaches us to be incredibly self-centered, narcissisticc and immediately gratified, regardless of the consequences. This doesn't work in a marriage. So, it's society and people that are broken, not marriage itself.
25. if you find that right person, everything turns for the better. yes, maybe the statistics do show that, but does that mean that anyone counted is not happy? if someone is married without getting a divorce, they're happy if someone gets a divorce after marrige, then they will be heartbroken, but they would be better off. does that make sense? ~hope this helps ~Smiles :D
26. Well 50% is a high rate, but it is not the majority. Statistically there is just as much of a chance of having a successful marriage as an unsuccessful one. Having a happy marriage does not make you an "exception." It just makes you in the fortunate HALF.
27. beacuse its the only way to get half his $ when you split.