clipped from www.news.com.au

"Divorce usually causes a former spouse to move out and form a new household, thus increasing the size of materials and land for housing,'' said the study by researchers at Michigan State University.

Higher divorce rates "have led to an increasing number of households and ... the average household size and efficiency of resource use per person are lower than in divorced households than in married households".

In the United States, the proportion of divorced households jumped from 5 per cent in 1970 to 15 per cent in 2000, and numbers have surged even in China where divorce has not been traditionally as common, the study said.

In 2005, US divorced households spent as much as 56 per cent more on electricity and water per person than married households, and used up to 61 per cent more resources per person than they did before the separation took place.