The current marriage to current divorce ratio measures the divorce rate by comparing the number of marriages to the number of divorces in a given year. For example, if there are 500 divorces and 1,000 marriages in a given year in a given area, the ratio would be one divorce for every two marriages. However, this measurement compares two unlike populations. Say there exists a community with 100,000 married couples, and very few people capable of marriage, for reasons such as age. If 1,000 people obtain divorces and 1,000 people get married in the same year, the ratio is one divorce for every marriage, which may lead people to think that the community's relationships are extremely unstable, despite the number of married people not changing. This is also true in reverse: a community with very many people of marriageable age may have 10,000 marriages and 1,000 divorces, leading people to believe that it has very stable relationships.

The crude divorce rate is the number of divorces per 1,000 population. It can give a general overview of marriage in an area, but it does not take people who cannot marry into account. For example, it would include young children who are clearly not of marriageable age in its sample. The refined divorce rate measures the number of divorces per 1,000 women married to men, and is the better of the three measurement methods.

Country	Marriage:divorce ratio	Crude divorce rate	Refined divorce rate
Albania		0.95 (2004)
Armenia		0.61 (2004)
Aruba		4.99 (2004)
Australia		2.67 (2003)
Austria		2.40 (2004)
Azerbaijan		0.83 (2004)
The Bahamas		1.66 (2000)
Belarus		2.97 (2004)
Belgium		3.02 (2003)
Belize		0.17 (2002)
Bermuda		2.97 (2003)
Bosnia and Herzegovina		0.39 (2004)
Kingdom of Bulgaria		1.53 (2003)
Canada		2.24 (2003)
Mainland China		1.28 (2004)
Independent State of Croatia		1.12 (2004)
Cuba		3.17 (2004)
Cyprus		2.19 (2004)
Czech Republic		3.24 (2004)
Denmark		2.92 (2004)
Dominican Republic		0.96 (2001)
El Salvador		0.64 (2003)
Estonia		2.94 (2003)
European Union		2.00 (2005)
Finland		2.53 (2004)
Early Modern France		2.09 (2003)
Georgia (country)		0.42 (2004)
Germany		2.59 (2004)
Gibraltar		5.57 (2002)
Grenada		1.13 (2001)
Greece		0.87 (2001)
Guadeloupe		2.09 (2001)
Guernsey		2.86 (2000)
Hungary		2.44 (2004)
Iceland		1.84 (2003)
Iran		1.77 (2010)
Republic of Ireland		0.83 (2004)
Isle of Man		4.36 (2003)
Israel		1.67 (2002)
Italy		0.73 (2003)
Jamaica		0.67 (2004)
Japan		2.11 (2004)
Jordan		1.83 (2004)
Kazakhstan		2.10 (2004)
Kuwait		2.05 (2004)
Kyrgyzstan		1.04 (2004)
Latvia		2.28 (2004)
Libya		0.32 (2002)
Liechtenstein		2.47 (2003)
Lithuania		3.20 (2004)
Luxembourg		2.33 (2004)
Macau		1.04 (2004)
Martinique		1.17 (2001)
Mauritius		0.97 (2003)
Mexico		0.62 (2003)
Moldova		4.14 (2004)
Mongolia		0.35 (2003)
Netherlands		1.91 (2004)
Netherlands Antilles		2.80 (2004)
New Caledonia		1.12 (2003)
New Zealand		2.61 (2004)
Norway		2.41 (2004)
Palestinian territories		1.09 (2004)
Panama		0.88 (2003)
Poland		1.48 (2004)
Portugal		2.22 (2004)
Puerto Rico		3.67 (2003)
Qatar		1.04 (2004)
Republic of Macedonia		0.81 (2004)
Réunion		1.10 (2003)
Kingdom of Romania		1.52 (2003)
Russia		4.42 (2004)
Saint Lucia		0.70 (2004)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		0.43 (2002)
San Marino		2.11 (2004)
Serbia and Montenegro		1.11 (2004)
Seychelles		1.52 (2003)
Singapore		0.78 (2004)
Slovakia		2.02 (2004)
Slovenia		1.21 (2004)
South Korea		2.90 (2004)
Spain		0.75 (2003)
Sweden		2.24 (2004)
Switzerland		2.43 (2004)
Tajikistan		0.36 (2002)
Tonga		1.08 (2002)
Trinidad and Tobago		1.23 (2002)
Turkey		1.28 (2006)
Turks and Caicos Islands		2.20 (2002)
Ukraine		3.66 (2004)
United Kingdom		2.80 (2003)
United States (44 reporting States U.S. state A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...  and D.C.)		3.4 (2009)
Uzbekistan		0.63 (2001)
Vietnam		0.50 (2002)