According to Pew Research Center data, only 9% of LDS members are currently divorced — the lowest rate of any Christian denomination measured. Evangelicals: 28%. Catholics: 15-19%. Mainline Protestants: 15%.
Stephen Cranney, a researcher at Baylor University, analyzed the General Social Survey and found that 28% of LDS members who have ever been married have ever been divorced, compared to 42% for non-LDS Americans. That is a full third lower.
What makes this finding particularly notable: LDS members also have the highest marriage rate of any major religious group at 66%. Most groups with low divorce rates achieve them partly by having fewer people marry in the first place — only the most committed couples enter marriage. LDS members marry at the highest rate AND maintain the lowest divorce rate. The combination is unique.
Temple-sealed LDS marriages show even stronger outcomes: divorce rates in the low 20s% compared to approximately 50% nationally. LDS-to-LDS marriages that divorce within 5 years: 13%. LDS members who marry outside the faith: 40% divorce within 5 years.
71% of LDS-to-LDS couples report being "very happy" in their marriages — the highest of any religious group measured.
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