I have often read that the divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world. This is not true. Divorce in most European countries skyrocketed during the nearly 30 year period between 1980 and 2008, rising to more than 60 percent in Spain, Belgium, and Hungary and 50 percent in France and Germany. The latest divorce rate in Russia was 54 percent. 

In the United States, in 2008, the divorce rate was 49 percent, a marriage rate of 7.1 and a divorce rate of 3.5 per 1000 population. In Canada, in 2004, the divorce rate was 48 percent. (Also, you might be interested to know, the out-of-wedlock ratio in Canada in 1991 was 29 percent and in 2007 was 38 percent.)

Below is a table of divorce rates in Europe. The source for the data is here. I have also included the fertility rates and out-of-wedlock birth rates, to further illustrate the decline of the family in Europe. 

Italy was famous for having intact families, and low birth rates, but recently, the past 10 or 15 years, the family situation has deteriorated rapidly in Italy. The birth rate in Italy is up from its lows, but the great majority of the increase in the birth rate in Italy can be attributed to the rise in out-of-wedlock births. Greece is doing the best in terms of family stability on the European continent. Their divorce rate is not the lowest, it is given as 26 percent, but their out-of-wedlock ratio probably is the lowest at about six percent. Also, the labor force participation of their women is quite low and hasn’t gone up much in recent times. However, Greece’s birth rate is quite low, about 1.5 per woman today; about the same as Italy, but its family stability leads the pact.

Spain and Portugal also used to have a reputation for intact families. Their divorce rates however hugely increased from 1980 to 2007/2008 and now they are both about 60 percent. The out-of-wedlock rates in those countries are about 30 percent now. 

The divorce rate is over 50 percent in every major country in Western Europe. Start with Portugal, then go to Spain, then go to France, then go to Germany, then go down to Austria, all those countries are contiguous, they make up basically the entire Western European continent, and then you can add in Great Britain up north. Also you should keep in mind that Northern Italy has a significantly worse family structure than Southern Italy.

The countries in Western Europe with comparatively low out-of-wedlock birth ratios have much lower fertility rates than the countries with high out-of-wedlock ratios. If you compare the non-Hispanic white population in the United States to the peoples of Western Europe it is quite clear, as had been frequently noted, that non-Hispanic whites in the United States are doing better in terms of their family structure and fertility rates than the peoples of Western Europe are.