Spatial Data Analysis

An upward trend in the divorce rate in Iran in recent years has attracted officials, researchers and sociologists towards investigating causes and factors contributing such a social menace. Based on the statistics published by the Statistics Center of Iran (SCI), the divorce rate has gone up from 1.5 in 1000 cases in 1996 to 2.3 in 1999 and 3.1 in 2006. Results of previous studies show that factors such as age and educational differences between husband and wife, women’s employment, addiction and lack of moral principles have been the most important causes of the divorce. This study, however, focusing on the socio-economic status of the divorcee in Iran, picks up a different view from that of other studies conducted in this field. This article also tries to identify the relationships between the rules applicable to personal and employment variables among divorced people using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) techniques. The sample data used in this study include 6400 divorcee from the total divorced population (of 392075) in the county according to the 2006 census; those who have declared themselves without marriage partner due to divorce. The sample includes both male and female. Results show that the main characteristics of divorced women were their employment and level of education which were statistically significant in metropolitan regions where there is a rise in the employment and education level of women. On the contrary, low education, unemployment, and place of work have been significant factors among divorced men.