grey divorce

This is a divorce between a couple who are over 50.  As the divorce rate declines in the under 50s, it has increased in the over 50s.  The social phenomenon was identified in America in the 1980s but the term for it emerged in 2004. In Australia it has been known since roughly 2015 but has become more widely used in the last twelve months.  A few high profile grey divorces, such as that between Bill and Melinda Gates in May this year, have helped to increase the currency of the term.  The statistics in Australia show that grey divorce is now a real thing here, although the reasons for it are still debated.  Couples say that they have simply grown apart, like the Gates couple. Older women, who are often the ones initiating the divorce, are more financially independent so that they can contemplate a separate existence. They are also in good health and regarding their life after 50 as an opportunity to explore new pursuits, rather than as a decline into old age. One theory is that the availability of medications such as Viagra means that men are having affairs at an older age, though this one is treated with some scepticism. Whatever the cause, grey divorces are on the rise.