How to correct the sentence "three times it was"?

Question

Here is the whole sentence:

Strikingly, the perstange of divorced people was about 3 times it was in 1970, which reached 9% in 2000.

OR: Is this a right sentence? Thank you. I'm a foreigner.

Answer 1

Strikingly, the percentage of divorced people was about 3 times what it was in 1970, and reached 9% in 2000.

There you go.

Good luck with it.