TEHRAN – As the traditional and moral values of the family in the West are collapsing, divorce and many moral problems consequently are increasing in the US and European societies.

With the collapse of many moral values in the West, Western intellectuals by justifying and normalizing all kinds of corruptions and deviations such as homosexuality, cohabitation without marriage, and irregular sexual behavior caused the collapse of all the moral infrastructure of their society.

This moral collapse affected more on the most important social institution, i.e., the family.

The family is the first link in the formation of human society and the first center of education for the future generation of society.

Based on ethical culture, the formation of a family is due to the union of male and female [marriage], with the aim of self-improvement and the increase of the human race.

But the whole world did not remain faithful to this moral definition so the family in the West is currently collapsing. In fact, under the pressure of intellectual illusions, feminist definitions justifying promiscuity, and strengthening the lust-oriented animal nature of Western man, the family has lost its past value in Western societies.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in this regard said, “Unfortunately, the West has lost the family institution, a center that is a safe and peaceful environment for men, and especially for women. Many families have broken up. Many women live alone till the end of their lives. Many men cannot find the wife they are looking for. And, many marriages are dissolved in the first years.” (October 22, 1997)

As the traditional ethical values of the family in the West are collapsing, the increase in divorce, illegitimate children, sexual infidelity, etc. can be seen in these societies.

Western societies (the US and Europe) traditionally have higher divorce rates than Asia and Latin America. For instance, the crude divorce rates (meaning a rate calculated by dividing the total number of cases in a given period by the total number of persons in the population) in the US for 2019 and 2020 were 2.7 and 2.3, respectively; in Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, it was 1.6.

The United States has the 6th highest divorce rate in the world. In 2021, a total of 689,308 divorces occurred across the 45 US states that report these statistics. During that same year, 1,985,072 marriages occurred, making the US marriage rate 6 per 1,000 people.

The divorce rate per 1,000 married women is nearly double that of 1960. Almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation. Researchers estimate that 41 percent of all first marriages end in divorce.  60 and 73 percent of second and third marriages end in divorce respectively.

“One of the factors that has undermined the Western ideological system and its spiritual domination is the increasing moral and spiritual crisis in the West. A clear sign of this crisis is that a feeling of absurdity, nothingness, desperation, and psychological insecurity has been engendered in all Western people, particularly in youth. The foundation of the family has shaken in the West. And these are the consequences,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. (September 4, 2014

The most common reasons for divorce in these countries include lack of commitment 75%, infidelity 59.6%, irreconcilable differences 57.7%, marrying too young 45.1%, financial hardship 36.7%, substance abuse 34.6%, and domestic violence 23.5%.

Divorce rates in European countries have traditionally been higher compared to other parts of the world. According to the reports, Gov.uk, and World Population Review, the divorce rates are higher in Northern Europe and lower in other parts. The EU countries with the highest divorce rates are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Luxembourg. [divorce.com]

Some researchers believe that the more religious the society, the more stable the family units. For instance, Ireland and Italy, having conservative Roman Catholic beliefs, have the least divorces in Europe.

“Western culture made the family collapse. Today one of the great problems of the Western world is the breakup of the family and the increase in the number of abandoned children. The West will suffer from the consequences. Social developments build up over time. The West will be harmed most by this problem and the flashy materialistic civilization of the West will collapse along the fault lines of this problem,” the Leader noted. (July 11, 2012)