--- description: Women who get married for the first time while they’re young are more likely to see their union end in a divorce, statistics show. title: This Chart Tells You How Likely You Are to Get Divorced image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40a91e8fcc2a6aa/698896b0656a3fc4c9bcbd24/bride-groom-wedding-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Chart Tells How Likely You Are to Get Divorced  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 7, 2016 4:27 PM CUT  Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 7, 2016 4:27 PM CUT [Women who get married](http://time.com/4354770/how-to-stay-married/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") for the first time while they’re very young or over 45 are more likely to see their union end in a divorce than others, statistics show. There are higher divorce rates among women who were between 15 and 20 years old when they first tied the knot, according to Bureau of Labor figures and data from the American Community Survey, [analyzed](https://familyinequality.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/how-we-really-can-study-divorce/ "undefined") by University of Maryland sociologist Philip N. Cohen. On average, those marriages—known in the vernacular as “starter marriages”—last between 1 and 10 years. Another study in 2015 [suggests](http://time.com/3966588/marriage-wedding-best-age/ "undefined") that the best ages for people to enter a long and successful marriage is between 28 and 32. **Read More:** [**_What Your Brain Looks Like After 20 Years of Marriage_**](http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/11/what-your-brain-looks-like-after-20-years-of-marriage/?iid=sr-link5 "undefined") TIME [delved into marriage in a cover story](http://time.com/4354770/how-to-stay-married/ "undefined") on how the institution has changed, including the latest research on how to boost your chances of staying married—and why. This chart shows who tends to stay married longest:  ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4358792/woman-age-married-how-long/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4358792/woman-age-married-how-long/"},"headline":"This Chart Tells How Likely You Are to Get Divorced","datePublished":"2016-06-07T16:27:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:15.054Z","description":"Women who wait until after the age of 26 to get married have the best shot at staying together longer","url":"https://time.com/4358792/woman-age-married-how-long/","keywords":["Living","Marriage","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40a91e8fcc2a6aa/698896b0656a3fc4c9bcbd24/bride-groom-wedding-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40a91e8fcc2a6aa/698896b0656a3fc4c9bcbd24/bride-groom-wedding-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Upset bride and groom cake topper","caption":"Upset bride and groom cake topper","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4358792/woman-age-married-how-long/","name":"This Chart Tells How Likely You Are to Get Divorced"}}]}] ```