Sociologists have not paid much attention to short-run variations in marriage and divorce rates, though they can be revealing of changes in both of these phenomena, as well as of changes in the larger social system. An analysis of these variations reveal an increasing degree of interdependence for both marriage and divorce decisions in the last century. It is suggested that this increased interdependence can be attributed to increased short-term variations in the socioeconomic conditions of the country; to an increasing interdependence of the different parts of the country; to an increasing sensitivity of these decisions to macro-socioeconomic conditions. The analysis revealed that only the last two factors could be retained. They are themselves tentatively interpreted as the result of the process of urbanization and industralization.