Divorce among Amish: 0%. Officially. Unofficially — also nearly 0%. Why?

Religion

'What God has joined, let no man separate' — literally. Divorce = sin = Meidung (shunning). Not an option.

Economics

Farm is joint. Wife works as much as husband. Can't divide. Where does wife go without money, education, skills (besides farming)? Where does husband go without wife who cooks, sews, washes, bears children, raises them?

Community

Pressure. If a couple fights — elders come. Talk. Prayer. Compromise. If that fails — more talks. And more. Until it works. To divorce is to leave the community. To leave is to lose everything: family, friends, home, work, identity.

Unhappy Marriages

Exist. Of course they do. But divorce isn't an option. Options are patience, prayer, work. Or parallel lives (he in workshop, she in garden, meet at dinner and church). Sad? Maybe. But stable.