placestats

Divorce rate (UN) vs. Hospital beds

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 85 countries, Divorce rate (UN) and Hospital beds rise and fall together at r = +0.25 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). It holds up almost unchanged when only countries with similar income (GDP per person) are compared (r = +0.26, q = 0.023, allowing for the many pairs tested). Caution: correlation moves sharply once outliers are trimmed.

Comparing countries across the middle half of divorce rate (un), 1.33 to 1.91 divorces per 1,000 people, hospital beds is 0.47 per 1,000 people higher at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 0.468 per 1,000 people.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.253p = 0.019 · 85 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.259p = 0.017 · likely range [+0.05, +0.45]
p, allowing for regions0.001standard error 0.039 · 6 regions
Check for luck (q)0.023across 12,497 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Divorce rate (UN) · divorces per 1,000 peoplelink with income +0.07 · independent
Hospital beds · per 1,000 peoplelink with income +0.63 · high

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Divorce rate (UN) · divorces per 1,000 people →Hospital beds · per 1,000 people →0.3194.650.4512.8Albania: 1.71 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.9 per 1,000 peopleArmenia: 1.57 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.24 per 1,000 peopleAustralia: 1.83 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.82 per 1,000 peopleAustria: 1.63 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.7 per 1,000 peopleAzerbaijan: 2.1 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.68 per 1,000 peopleBelgium: 1.7 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.42 per 1,000 peopleBulgaria: 1.34 divorces per 1,000 people, 8.2 per 1,000 peopleBosnia and Herzegovina: 0.799 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.35 per 1,000 peopleBelarus: 3.81 divorces per 1,000 people, 9.77 per 1,000 peopleBarbados: 1.53 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.4 per 1,000 peopleBrunei Darussalam: 1.63 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.58 per 1,000 peopleCanada: 1.13 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.54 per 1,000 peopleSwitzerland: 1.74 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.38 per 1,000 peopleCosta Rica: 2.48 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.14 per 1,000 peopleCyprus: 1.66 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.15 per 1,000 peopleCzechia: 1.91 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.54 per 1,000 peopleGermany: 1.55 divorces per 1,000 people, 7.55 per 1,000 peopleDominica: 0.994 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.97 per 1,000 peopleDenmark: 2.16 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.43 per 1,000 peopleDominican Republic: 2.43 divorces per 1,000 people, 0.75 per 1,000 peopleEgypt, Arab Rep.: 2.5 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.06 per 1,000 peopleSpain: 1.59 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.91 per 1,000 peopleEstonia: 2.1 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.13 per 1,000 peopleFinland: 2.11 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.61 per 1,000 peopleFrance: 1.93 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.65 per 1,000 peopleUnited Kingdom: 1.33 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.42 per 1,000 peopleGeorgia: 3.66 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.04 per 1,000 peopleGreece: 1.45 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.27 per 1,000 peopleGrenada: 1.6 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.01 per 1,000 peopleGuatemala: 0.582 divorces per 1,000 people, 0.45 per 1,000 peopleCroatia: 1.28 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.6 per 1,000 peopleHungary: 1.85 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.63 per 1,000 peopleIreland: 0.637 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.96 per 1,000 peopleIran, Islamic Rep.: 2.41 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.85 per 1,000 peopleIceland: 1.88 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.83 per 1,000 peopleIsrael: 1.58 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.14 per 1,000 peopleItaly: 1.35 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.06 per 1,000 peopleJamaica: 1.25 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.65 per 1,000 peopleJordan: 1.71 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.41 per 1,000 peopleJapan: 1.48 divorces per 1,000 people, 12.6 per 1,000 peopleKazakhstan: 2.01 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.54 per 1,000 peopleKyrgyz Republic: 1.81 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.73 per 1,000 peopleKorea, Rep.: 1.79 divorces per 1,000 people, 12.8 per 1,000 peopleKuwait: 1.64 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.33 per 1,000 peopleSt. Lucia: 0.319 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.09 per 1,000 peopleLithuania: 2.47 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.71 per 1,000 peopleLuxembourg: 1.78 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.95 per 1,000 peopleLatvia: 2.85 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.95 per 1,000 peopleMoldova: 3.92 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.54 per 1,000 peopleMexico: 1.25 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.01 per 1,000 peopleNorth Macedonia: 1.09 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.74 per 1,000 peopleMalta: 0.964 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.09 per 1,000 peopleMontenegro: 1.37 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.82 per 1,000 peopleMongolia: 1.27 divorces per 1,000 people, 8.58 per 1,000 peopleMauritius: 2.51 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.8 per 1,000 peopleMalaysia: 1.73 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.96 per 1,000 peopleNicaragua: 1.55 divorces per 1,000 people, 0.97 per 1,000 peopleNetherlands: 1.41 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.42 per 1,000 peopleNorway: 1.53 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.3 per 1,000 peopleNew Zealand: 1.42 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.51 per 1,000 peoplePanama: 0.737 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.95 per 1,000 peoplePeru: 0.49 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.56 per 1,000 peoplePoland: 1.57 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.04 per 1,000 peoplePortugal: 1.48 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.48 per 1,000 peopleWest Bank and Gaza: 1.79 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.3 per 1,000 peopleQatar: 0.798 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.25 per 1,000 peopleRomania: 1.09 divorces per 1,000 people, 7.23 per 1,000 peopleRussian Federation: 4.65 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.81 per 1,000 peopleSudan: 1.51 divorces per 1,000 people, 0.66 per 1,000 peopleSingapore: 1.69 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.81 per 1,000 peopleSan Marino: 1.53 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.35 per 1,000 peopleSerbia: 1.61 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.78 per 1,000 peopleSuriname: 1.46 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.87 per 1,000 peopleSlovak Republic: 1.51 divorces per 1,000 people, 5.57 per 1,000 peopleSlovenia: 0.972 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.11 per 1,000 peopleSweden: 2.05 divorces per 1,000 people, 1.9 per 1,000 peopleSeychelles: 1.4 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.63 per 1,000 peopleTajikistan: 1.49 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.04 per 1,000 peopleTrinidad and Tobago: 2.02 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.37 per 1,000 peopleTurkiye: 2.19 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.05 per 1,000 peopleUkraine: 2.93 divorces per 1,000 people, 6.14 per 1,000 peopleUruguay: 0.728 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.44 per 1,000 peopleUzbekistan: 1.21 divorces per 1,000 people, 4.89 per 1,000 peopleSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 0.371 divorces per 1,000 people, 3.21 per 1,000 peopleViet Nam: 0.32 divorces per 1,000 people, 2.52 per 1,000 peopleBLRGEOGTMJPNKORLCAMDAMNGPERRUS

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.2530.01985
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.1770.10685
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.2590.01785
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.1660.13085

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 85 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: -0.006 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.189 (without BLR) to +0.294 (without JPN). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: BLR (-0.070).

Fragile: this link may not hold up.
  • correlation moves sharply once outliers are trimmed

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
Europe & Central Asia48+0.31
Latin America & Caribbean16-0.04

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third29+0.24
Middle third28+0.27
Richest third28+0.17

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians55+0.39
Muslims17+0.05

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Never a European colony12-0.61
United Kingdom22+0.10

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.011 after dropping 11 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 11years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = +0.178, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose divorce rate (un) moved did not tend to see their hospital beds move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.259for comparison
Within countries+0.181each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.178q = 0.056 · 75 countries
Year-on-year changes-0.019q = 0.882
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

724 country-years (one country in one year), 75 countries, 2013–2023, about 10 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 9% for Divorce rate (UN), 1% for Hospital beds. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.30−0.3-100+5years Hospital beds trails Divorce rate (UN) →lag -10: r = -0.028 (n = 746)lag -9: r = -0.014 (n = 753)lag -8: r = 0.016 (n = 768)lag -7: r = 0.039 (n = 774)lag -6: r = 0.067 (n = 782)lag -5: r = 0.119 (n = 789)lag -4: r = 0.139 (n = 796)lag -3: r = 0.228 (n = 790)lag -2: r = 0.255 (n = 794)lag -1: r = 0.239 (n = 774)lag +0: r = 0.178 (n = 724)lag +1: r = 0.124 (n = 656)lag +2: r = 0.119 (n = 588)lag +3: r = 0.185 (n = 503)lag +4: r = 0.131 (n = 417)lag +5: r = 0.118 (n = 343)

Same year (lag 0): +0.178. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The largest value on this curve (+0.25 at lag -2) is higher than the same-year one by 0.08. That gap is not a finding. It is the largest of 16 closely related estimates, and picking the biggest of many tests always makes it look bigger. That is exactly why nothing on this site is ranked or chosen by lag.

The data


divorces per 1,000 people
per 1,000 people		Years
Russian Federation RUS4.656.812013, 2023
Moldova MDA3.925.542024, 2023
Belarus BLR3.819.772024, 2023
Georgia GEO3.664.042024, 2023
Ukraine UKR2.936.142021, 2022
Latvia LVA2.854.952024, 2023
Mauritius MUS2.513.82024, 2023
Egypt, Arab Rep. EGY2.51.062022, 2021
Costa Rica CRI2.481.142024, 2022
Lithuania LTU2.475.712024, 2022
Dominican Republic DOM2.430.752024, 2023
Iran, Islamic Rep. IRN2.411.852022, 2019
Turkiye TUR2.193.052024, 2023
Denmark DNK2.162.432024, 2023
Finland FIN2.112.612024, 2022

United Nations Statistics Division, Demographic Yearbook, 2017 to 2024 editions: tables of marriages and crude marriage rates, and of divorces and crude divorce rates, by urban/rural residence.
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Divorce rate (UN)

Crude divorce rate, countries with complete registration

United Nations Statistics Division · UNdata terms of use · updated annual (each edition covers the latest five years)

Divorces granted in the year per 1,000 people, from the same UN Demographic Yearbook collection and with the same rule: only countries whose register the UN rates as at least 90% complete. It is a crude rate, counted against everyone, not just married people. So a country where few people marry can have few divorces without its marriages lasting any longer. Countries where divorce is rare by law or custom and countries where it is simply not recorded can look alike. The United States is left out: its divorce counts miss six states, but the rate is worked out over the whole population. No "better" direction is set.

Hospital beds

Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)

World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2013–2024. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 6 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 12,497 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Divorce rate (UN) and Hospital beds

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Divorce rate (UN) changes Hospital beds, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Divorce rate (UN) or Hospital beds