Correlation Is Not Causation
People who marry after 35 differ from those who marry at 19 in many ways besides age.
They may be more educated, wealthier or more established professionally. They may live in different communities and hold different attitudes about marriage.
Some may have spent years selecting a compatible partner. Others may be marrying for the second or third time, which can carry a different risk profile.
If a study finds lower divorce rates among older newlyweds, the difference may partly reflect these characteristics rather than age itself.
Researchers attempt to control statistically for education, income, prior relationships, religion, cohabitation and other variables. Even sophisticated models cannot measure every relevant difference.
It is therefore safer to say that marriage age is associated with divorce risk—not that reaching age 35 automatically makes a marriage more durable.
Why “After 35” Is Too Broad
The category “men who marry after 35” can include:
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A 36-year-old entering his first marriage
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A 48-year-old remarrying after divorce
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A 63-year-old widower marrying again
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A man who has lived with his partner for 15 years
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A man marrying someone he met a few months earlier
These are not equivalent situations.
A marriage study must specify whether it examines first marriages, all marriages or remarriages. It must also decide how long couples are followed.
A couple married for three years has had less time to divorce than a couple married for 25 years. Comparing raw percentages without accounting for exposure time can create misleading conclusions.
The viral graphic provides no source, country, dataset, definition of divorce rate or observation period.
Without those details, its superlative claim cannot be properly evaluated.