Divorce Statistics

The first quarter of the present year saw 5,666 French couples divorced and 70,656 couples married. The ratio of divorces to marriages is one to twelve.

In Paris during the same period there were 1,048 divorces and 8,000 marriages, or a ratio of one to eight. The capital's divorce rate is the highest in the country, Lyons coming second.

A feature of the statistics is that there were more women defaulters than men.

Legal circles are much concerned over the increase in divorces in view of a divorce bill to be presented to the Chamber of Deputies next Fall. According to this bill, divorce will be even easier and the guilty divorces will be able to marry the corespondents--a thing now prohibited. The lawyers feel that this is turning the courts into "divorce mills" for "grinding out decrees for small fees whenever couples agree to separate."