Everyone knows that marrying too young elevates the risk of divorce. Teens, early twenties.

But don’t carry this analysis too far or you may be led astray. It turns out that about thirty is the sweet spot on the curve of first marriage divorce risk.

After that, the risk of divorce starts to tick up again, moreso with each passing year. All based on a statistical analysis of demographic collected in the National Survey of Family Growth.

Since the survey’s goal was only to capture the data, it doesn’t yield any insights to explain the data. But the statisticians do have some theories.

For example, people who defer marriage beyond a certain point may just not be that well-suited to marriage. Or perhaps that is just as true of the available potential marriage partners.

It’s important to keep the statistics in proper perspective though. The absolute risk of divorce is still much greater at the youngest end of the spectrum, while the percentages at 35 and 24 are neck and neck.

And divorce rates overall have been gradually slipping for decades.

Read more in this Washington Post article: The best age to get married if you don’t want to get divorced .