WICHITA — The state of Kansas says its divorce rate has dropped to the lowest levels since it began keeping yearly records in 1966.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment says last year’s divorce rate fell to 2.6 per 1,000 persons. There were 7,198 divorces statewide in 2016.
The marriage rate in Kansas has also reached historic lows, an annual state report says. It rose a bit in 2016 but set a record low in 2015 and in 2013 at 6 marriages per 1,000 adults.
The department says that for much of the 1970s and 1980s, the divorce rate was above 5 per every 1,000 population.
The department offered no explanation for last year’s decline.
The Eagle reports business still booms for divorce lawyers and that clients are fighting each other more.