Marital Dissolution and Development in Indonesia

Abstract

Most western societies have experienced an increase in the incidence of divorce during the twentieth century. In some developing societies, however, divorce rates are at levels as high as those observed in the West, and in several of these societies divorce rates have been declining. One example of a country with high but declining levels of divorce is Indonesia. In this study we utilize World Fertility Survey data for the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali to establish the incidence of marital dissolution, to examine how the incidence has changed over time, and to analyze the covariates of the timing and probability of divorce. The findings suggest that declines in divorce can be largely attributed to development processes that have increased levels of educational attainment and resulted in later ages of marriage.