The people making the claim are citing 50% because that's what they've heard their entire lives, not because they did some kind of statistical analysis to balan

The people making the claim are citing 50% because that's what they've heard their entire lives, not because they did some kind of statistical analysis to balance the different factors involved. There is a big difference between a specific statistic (divorce rate) and the larger picture (in this case, each of us is probably interpreting this differently). A specific statistic is purposely isolated, and then can be used as one piece of data among many to analyze whatever one might view the larger picture as. For the divorce rate specifically, if there are fewer divorces because there are fewer people entering into poorly chosen marriages, wouldn't the resulting decline in the divorce rate still hold some significance to you?