To say second marriages usually only occur in people whose first marriage failed, it seems to illustrate the point that people in fact have a lower chance to di

To say second marriages usually only occur in people whose first marriage failed, it seems to illustrate the point that people in fact have a lower chance to divorce in their second marriage. In a sample of only divorced people, they've obviously learnt something because their 2nd marriage should be destined for 100% chance of failure because they've already illustrated they failed at marriage. Surely someone who has been divorced twice is guaranteed to fail? I mean they obviously picked poorly twice, so why does 26% of third marriages survive? Because obviously they've learnt from their mistakes, they're not choosing cheaters or losers the 3rd time?! Obviously the numbers are going to be biased to lower percentages because there's more than just divorce's entering the 2nd and 3rd marriages, there's also widow/er's and such who already succeeded once as they made it to the whole 'until death do we part'. However, second marriages should be a lot more complex than first due to the addition of age, careers and children. Edit: The thing never made clear in divorce statistics is something that seems to avoid common sense. You can only get married a second time if you've been divorced once, so the second marriage category is nearly 100% composed of divorce's as 50% of first marriages survive! The real statistics are: 24.79% of total marriages fail. Out of 100 people 50 succeed the first time. Out of 50 people ~16.5 succeed the second time. Out of 33.5 people 8.71 people succeed the third time, meaning 24.79 people fail past a third marriage, that's less than 75% of the population; so really the gross marriage rate heads towards 100% success not 100% failure. Interestingly 93% of fourth marriages end in divorce, which would show that roughly 23% of people are incapable of marriage. With this 23% removed, then the total success rate for marriage is 100%, that eventually people will end up in a successful marriage even after a failure or two.