Fairfax, S.C. and Clay County, Ga. lead nation in separated couples

FAIRFAX, SOUTH CAROLINA - Among U.S. communities with a population of more than one-thousand, Fairfax, South Carolina has the highest percentage of separated people in the nation. <br> <br> According to the 2000 census, nearly 14 percent of people age 15 and older in the town of 3,200, reported they were deliberately living apart from their spouses. <br> <br> The broken marriages are attributed to the stresses of poverty, lack of education, a breakdown in family values, the demands of South Carolina&#39;s divorce law, and the presence of a maximum-security prison, which skews the numbers. <br> <br> Fairfax is in the southwestern part of the state&#39;s Allendale County, which is tied with Clay County, Georgia, a similarly poor and predominantly black area. The rate in the two counties is 8 percent.